Romy nodded. She had thought she was hungry, but the food seemed to stick in her throat. She was dreading going back to the flat. It wasn’t her home now, but it was obviously so familiar – especially with Rex in residence – that being there seemed to wipe out the months since she had left, negate the gains she had made without Michael in her life. Her gaze wandered round the room and settled on one of the many photos of Finch’s pretty, smiling wife that seemed to surround them, reminding her that she was not the only one with a past that was, perhaps, hard to leave behind. ‘Tell me about Nell,’ she said, anxious to divert her painfully circular thoughts. ‘What was she like?’

For a moment, Finch looked as if he might refuse. But then she saw his expression lighten. ‘I don’t know where to start. I’ve spent so much time since she died idealizing her that I’ve sort of lost the balance of who she really was.’

Romy had asked herself many times in the past week how she would feel if Michael died. She knew one thing: she didn’t want to remember him under the pervasive shadow of that letter. ‘I’m not sure what’s wrong with idealizing someone you love, especially when they can’t disappoint you any more,’ she said.

She noticed Finch’s fleeting frown and realized she had sounded bitter. ‘That didn’t come out quite right.’ She let out a long sigh. ‘Michael and I are not like you and Nell, as I’m sure you’ve worked out.’

‘But you loved him.’

Tears pricked behind her eyes. ‘Of course I loved him.’

Neither spoke for a while.

Then Romy said, ‘Your past is so pure and uncomplicated, however painful it was losing Nell.’

Finch’s mouth tightened. ‘What is it about your marriage that makes you so angry?’ he asked, his brown eyes perplexed.

Romy flinched. ‘I’m not angry,’ she said, the lie making her flush.

Finch gave a small shrug and reached across the table, laying his hand over hers. Romy had to bite her lip hard to stop herself crying from frustration. She was not only upset about what had happened historically between her and Michael. She was also upset with his current – albeit unwitting – insinuation into her relationship with Finch. She’d been enjoying the feeling recently that this was her time to make decisions about how she spent her days, and with whom. Perhaps be a bit selfish. But the family she had thought was on the way to independence was once more calling …

Rex and Leo were in the kitchen when Romy returned to the flat on Monday morning. Rex was frying eggs, waving a spatula at Leo as he loudly made some point.