I stood and looked out at the garden. It was only August bank holiday, but autumn was setting in, the leaves starting to change into rusts and ambers. Summer is over, I thought, with an abstract idea of seasons and cycles and the nature of things that probably related to my life, but I couldn’t see how. When Adzo had dropped off my stuff I’d frantically searched out my phone to see what Alexander had had to say for himself, but there wasn’t anything. I’d had no direct communication from him. In shock (humiliation? Disgust? Outrage?) I’d turned it off and left it in a drawer since. The bedsheets on his side still smelt of him. His post was on the counter, notes in his handwriting stuck to the fridge under a magnet. I’d hated Freddie giving me his jersey, but I hadn’t taken it off. I wanted him nowhere near me, and I wanted him all around me – here, back with me, everything normal again. I’d forgive him if he did come back. I’d let him in, tell everyone else to go home. I didn’t want any of this to be happening.

‘Annie? Hello? It’s polite to respond to questions.’

Freddie had gone back to watching TV, with Carol snoozing on her lap. Technically Carol had been a gift to me – a tiny King Charles spaniel from a rescue shelter – but Alexander had named her. His sexual awakening was prompted by watching Countdown after school and developing a crush on Carol Vorderman, and he said he’d always promised himself that one day he’d have a dog named after her.

‘Huh?’ I mumbled.

‘His clothes. I’ve ordered some boxes that should arrive tomorrow. We can pack up his things.’

‘But this is his house,’ I countered. ‘Shouldn’t it be my things we box up?’

Mum didn’t say anything. The plan had been that after the wedding I’d go on the mortgage paperwork. After the wedding, I would have my security. For two years I’d paid Alexander for half of everything, but legally we hadn’t added my name yet. I’d basically been his lodger. But I’d had no reason to think that was a risk. I had a ring on my finger! I could never have imagined I’d end up in this situation! Mum’s silence spoke volumes. Her silence said: how could you have been so stupid, Annie?