The first few months after the crash had been a blur. Trauma and grief made any sort of normal life impossible. Hospital appointments, funerals, incessant coverage of the crash in the media, anger and shock and outrage at the scale of the tragedy. Somehow, through all of that, Adam had brought them together – the survivors and the families of those who had died. Creating a space for them to gather and start the slow process of accepting what had happened. He’d brought in counsellors, experts in grief and PTSD, and started the fight for compensation and made sure that every single person affected by the crash of flight 975 got as much support – financial, emotional and anything else – as they needed.

It was during that time that Clodagh had become friends with Ivan. Now, she could barely remember there’d been a time when he wasn’t her friend. It felt as if they’d always been like this, although she knew there must have been a ‘getting to know each other’ phase. But if there was, that had passed so quickly and become a friendship as strong and solid as any she’d ever known.

‘I’ve always felt Ivan blamed me for the crash,’ Bella said.

Panic fluttered in Clodagh’s chest. She should have known Bella would bring this up. The one thing Clodagh couldn’t talk about. Not now, not ever. She willed herself to calm.

‘No,’ she said. ‘That’s absolutely not true, Bella. Ivan never thought badly of you because of the crash. How could he? If Gary was drinking before flying the plane that’s down to him and no one else.’

‘That’s what Simon says. We talked about Gary a lot when we first got together. It sounds odd, I know, talking about my ex-husband with my new boyfriend, but weirdly it’s one of the things that brought us closer.’

Clodagh was tired of talking about the crash. Endless conversations with endless different people about what might have happened to cause Gary to drink alcohol that day. She couldn’t blame Bella for wanting to understand it, either. Bella hadn’t been on the plane but there was no denying she’d been badly affected by what had happened.

‘The press claimed the divorce was my decision.’ Bella put her hand on Clodagh’s arm. ‘But that wasn’t true. I loved Gary. It broke my heart when he told me he didn’t want to be married to me any longer. Did you know that, Clodagh?’

Clodagh couldn’t answer. The last time Bella had touched her arm like that, it had triggered the start of a memory. The same thing was happening now, except this time the memory was stronger. She remembered standing in the Ladies’ toilet at Heraklion airport, her reflection in the mirror staring out at her, white face and wild eyes.

‘Are you okay?’ Bella asked.