She walked over to Spencer’s wardrobe and opened the doors. Her eyes, as always, were drawn to the neat row of shirts on their hangers. Somehow, they held more meaning for her than any of the other items in the wardrobe. She wasn’t exactly sure why, only that when she’d pressed her face against his shoulder and held him tight, his shirts had always smelled so wonderful, of clean, fresh cotton and safety.

Anna still had her hands on the open wardrobe doors. She didn’t move. ‘I’ve got to do this,’ she said, fixing her gaze on the shirts. ‘He doesn’t need them anymore.’

‘That is true.’ Gabi got up from the edge of the bed, walked towards her, and put an arm around her shoulder. ‘But you don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.’

Anna nodded. ‘I know. But I’ve been putting this off for too long. It’s time, Gabs. It’s just…’

‘Difficult,’ Gabi finished for her.

‘Yes,’ Anna replied solemnly. She exhaled. ‘But I’ve realized I have to make room in my life for new things, both emotionally and physically. Even if I’m not ready for a new man on my horizon today, I think I want to signal up that I’m open to the possibility of him someday – whatever that ends up meaning.’

Gabi sighed. ‘I am sad it didn’t work out between you and Jeremy.’

Anna nodded. ‘I’m sad about that too, but it wasn’t fair to keep stringing him along.’

Gabi looked sheepish. ‘I was wrong to push you into seeing him. I know that now.’

Anna felt a rush of warmth for her friend. She hugged Gabi tightly and kissed her noisily on the cheek. ‘Not wrong. Maybe just a bit premature.’ Gabi smiled back at her and then they both turned to consider the open wardrobe. ‘I don’t even know where to start… We need a plan.’

Gabi put her hands on her hips. ‘I have a plan, I think… We start with one thing – suits or shoes or jackets or shirts…’ Anna must have been pulling a face at that word, because Gabi trailed off, swallowed, then carried on. ‘We start with the group that’s easy. We take out all those things, put them on the bed, and sort them one by one. You must concentrate, Anna. You need to be “present”, because otherwise you may feel too sad when it is all gone. You have to make a decision about each thing.’

Anna scrunched up her forehead and looked at Gabi. ‘Where did you get all of that stuff?’

‘Binge-watching Hoarders when I can’t sleep,’ she said with a little bit of the old Gabi twinkle in her eye.

Anna laughed and turned back to the wardrobe, scanning the contents. ‘Let’s start with shoes.’

And so that is what they did. They pulled out all of Spencer’s shoes and boots and trainers and went through them, pair by pair. Some they saved for the charity shop, and some they put into a black bin bag to go out to the dustbin. When both piles were full and there was no more footwear left in the wardrobe, Anna breathed out shakily.