He nodded. ‘I just couldn’t accept it had really been that bad and then one night when I’d got Freddie to bed, I just thought, I’m going to write it down. I needed to make it real somehow and the only way I could think of was to see it on paper with my own eyes. It wasn’t a great moment, but it helped in the long run. It helped me take her off her pedestal and see things for how they really were.’

‘It doesn’t make it any less painful though, does it?’ she asked quietly.

‘No, it doesn’t. I found that I could cope with her leaving me, but I couldn’t fathom how she’d leave Freddie. It was just so wrong to me. I don’t care what happens, I could never leave him or not see him.’ Nick took another drink as if he’d spoken more openly than intended and needed time to compose himself. ‘Thanks for helping with Freddie’s lunch when it all first happened. I had no idea.’

‘I know I shouldn’t have. I should have spoken to you about it. Mrs White would go mad if she knew what I’d done, but you were just so busy trying to deal with everything. You held it all together so well for Freddie, I couldn’t bring myself to add more worries. It just seemed easier to make a little extra and bring it in just in case. It didn’t happen every day. To be honest, I don’t know how you managed to cope without falling apart.’

‘You think I coped well?’

‘Yes,’ she said with a laugh. ‘You did amazingly well.’

‘Thanks. I mean – I’m okay now. More than okay, I think, but it took a while to get here.’

Their eyes met and she felt a lump form in her throat. She wondered what it would be like to feel his lips on hers. An image of the passion that had been so lacking in her relationship with Evan flashed into her brain and she felt her muscles contract.

Freddie chose that moment to come tumbling into the kitchen in his most Christmassy pyjamas. Bella guessed they were from last year given that they finished well above his ankles. His face, pink from the steam of the shower, resembled a particularly naughty cherub and his wild hair stuck up in all directions.