Bella was vaguely aware of Mrs White locking the gates behind him, meaning she would have to send him to the office reception when it was time to leave. She didn’t know why such a practical thought occurred to her. Probably her brain trying to cope with his unexpected arrival. Would they be walking out together? A spark of hope flickered but died almost instantly. She didn’t know if she could take him back even if that was why he was here. Could she ever trust him again when he’d been so deceitful? That was what hurt the most. The relationship failing hurt like hell but what stung like salt in the wound was knowing he’d looked her in the eye and lied to her.

‘Hi,’ Evan said in a low, quiet voice as he drew near. They were meeting like strangers, and it cut deeply. She searched for something to say but couldn’t think of anything and simply backed into the classroom, letting him in. ‘It’s freezing out there tonight.’

‘It is.’ They were reduced to talking about the weather like people at a bus stop. After five years together was this all they could manage? Well, she wasn’t going to sit here chatting about the chance of a white Christmas. She had things to do. Things Evan would know about if he hadn’t dumped her and gone off with someone named after an animated piglet. When he didn’t offer anything more, she said, ‘Evan, what are you doing here?’

‘I got your message the other day and you were right. We need to talk.’ He sat down on one of the tables, his hands resting in his lap. He hadn’t taken his gloves or coat off, so he clearly wasn’t planning on staying. ‘I’ve just been to the cottage to clear out the last of my things. I posted my key back through the letter box.’

So he wasn’t asking to come home or for her to take him back. Not that she really wanted him to after the way he tried to sneak out, but his measured, detached tone only added to her pain. He was like a doctor talking to a patient. As though they hadn’t been constantly together for the last five years, lying in each other’s arms at night, as though they hadn’t been everything to each other.

Evan loosened his scarf a little. ‘I hope that’s okay.’

‘Well, it’s not really, is it?’ she fired back, her pain emerging as a moment of uninhibited anger.

‘Try and stay calm, Bella,’ he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.