‘Some people stall and drag it all out to make you and yours suffer rather than taking the logical and smooth path. Ego plays a large part.’

Grace groaned. ‘Yes. Well, that can be tricky with Lawrence. He is careful to make sure he always appears to be very successful. But I’ve learned he does sail a bit close to the wind, and that beneath all the bluster, he can be rather insecure – which surprised me when I finally saw that in him.’

‘Well, nothing formal is in train yet, so let’s concentrate on the present, shall we?’ said Mr Judd. He looked over his glasses. ‘Tell me now that you are convinced in your heart to move on from this marriage. How many times have you thought of leaving and he’s persuaded you to stay with him? Is this the last straw? I’ll be blunt: there’s no point wasting your time and money, if there’s any chance you will go back to him.’

Grace didn’t hesitate. ‘No. This is it. I feel like I’m breathing clear air for the first time in a long time. It’s scary doing all this with no idea how I’ll manage. But anything is better than feeling I’m slowly suffocating every day.’ This all came out in a bit of a rush, surprising her.

‘Good,’ said Mr Judd, nodding solemnly. ‘And to confirm: Lawrence hasn’t actually sent you paperwork seeking parental orders for full custody. If he does, come straight to me, and we’ll deal with it. Like I’ve said before: one step at a time. This is a long, slow process – nothing will happen immediately.’

‘That’s a sensible approach. On one hand, I’d like to rush in and get the process over with, even though I know the divorce will take a while. And on the other hand, the last thing I could do at the moment is go to court, if it came to that.’ Grace looked at Mr Judd and said softly, ‘I just don’t have the strength for that yet.’

She left the lawyer’s office feeling reassured but also nervous at the idea of an uncertain future. Underlying it all was the knowledge that Lawrence wouldn’t make anything easy.

*

On the drive to her meeting with Steve Boyd later that week, Grace tried to put her concerns about Lawrence aside, and instead played over in her head the pitch she planned to use to persuade Steve to direct and film her Kamasan launch.