There. She’d done it. And it hadn’t been terrible. In fact, there was a sense of peace, of release.

Next, they worked through the trousers, none of which Anna kept, but when it came to tops and jumpers, she saved a few of her favourites: a charcoal cable-knit fisherman’s sweater that was way too big for her and a couple of soft hoodies. These were things she’d liked to steal from Spencer when he’d been alive. They made her smile when she picked them up, even if tears welled in her lashes. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? If it wasn’t exactly a happy feeling, it wasn’t all sad, either.

As she tied the knot on a full bag, tears began to splash onto her hands. Gabi came over, made her let go, and hugged her.

‘Sorry,’ Anna croaked when she was able.

‘It’s nothing, minha querida,’ Gabi replied, and Anna could hear the emotion in her voice. She rubbed Anna’s back. ‘We don’t have to put these bags into your car today. We can put them back in the wardrobe… Maybe you give yourself time? Get used to it all packed up before you get rid of them?’

Anna sniffed and pulled away to look at Gabi. ‘Is that what they do on Hoarders?’

Gabi laughed loudly. ‘No! That would be a very bad idea.’ Her voice softened. ‘But this is different. You can make up your own rules. You can do what you want.’

Anna nodded and tried to suck in a deep breath, but it ended up more like a hiccup. ‘Okay.’ She walked over to the wardrobe and stared inside again.

Just as her fingers brushed the shoulders of a few of Spencer’s shirts, her mobile buzzed in her back jeans pocket. She quickly pulled the shirts out, threw them on the bed, and grabbed for her phone. It might be…

It wasn’t.

Her heart sank.

‘Brody?’ Gabi said drily. Anna had half a mind to think her best friend was getting jealous. She got this pinched little look on her face every time Anna mentioned him.

‘No, my mum. Asking what time my flight gets in on the fifteenth of December. I’ll go and check the confirmation email when we’re finished.’

Anna went back to pulling shirts from the wardrobe. When the pile was complete, Gabi said, ‘But you thought that was Brody?’

Anna glanced over her shoulder to where Gabi was struggling with a black sack as she dragged it back towards the wardrobe and dumped it on the floor. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘Your face. You never do that face when it’s anyone else.’

‘I might look that way when you text me,’ Anna replied. ‘You wouldn’t know, because you’re always somewhere else at the time.’

‘Okay,’ Gabi said. She pulled her phone out and tapped in a quick message. A split second later, Anna’s phone dinged again. She did her best to hide her smile when she saw Gabi’s text: Prove it.