The continual ring of the phone only intensified those feelings. She could imagine Evan pulling his phone out and looking at the screen, pausing as he considered whether to answer or not. Everything he did was considered. He was never rash or hot-headed, which went to show that he must have been planning on leaving her for some time. Yet, she’d never seen the signs. Still the phone rang, and Bella chewed her lip attempting to keep her emotions in check. As it clicked through to voicemail, it became clear he wasn’t going to pick up. He was a bloody coward.

Bella took a deep breath though her voice remained shaky and left a message. ‘Evan, it’s Bella.’

She’d hoped he’d know that, but he could have deleted her from his phone. She paused, unsure how to continue and after a couple of strange noises that were neither legible words nor distinct sounds, she said, ‘I know you want to move on with Pepper.’ Still a ridiculous name but she managed not to say so. ‘But we need to talk. You still have some stuff at our house.’

Our house.

‘We need to sort out the financials of the cottage and … and I think I deserve some answers before we never speak again. Don’t you?’

Her voice was getting a tone. The tone she got when she was being passive-aggressively arsey with phone scammers who rang up pretending to be from Microsoft or who told her her mobile phone had been in a car accident.

‘You can’t keep ignoring me, Evan, or pretending that the last five years didn’t happen.’

She hung up before she descended into the name-calling that had been ringing around her head. Bella wiped a tear from her eye and wished she could stop all this bloody crying. In some ways it was to be expected. It had been less than a week since he’d left, but her eyes were sore, and she hated not feeling like her normal positive self. It was as if Evan had stolen a piece of her when he left last week, and she wasn’t prepared to let him have it. From now on, she’d save her crying for when she was alone, at home, which she’d have to go to sooner or later.

With a frustrated sigh, she contented herself with the knowledge that tonight she could really start planning the giving tree that would make a real difference to some of the families in Meadowbank.

Chapter 6

‘What do you want for dinner then, mate? I think we’ve got some pasta bake in the cupboard if you fancy that?’

‘Okay.’