‘Em,’ Rupert lets out a long breath, ‘OK. I can see that maybe it could look that way, but – be honest, it could just as easily have been a car that hit her. Do you want me to come home?’

I think about Sadie’s expression as she tells me that Caro was pregnant. About Lola’s tiny face, and how she’ll never wind her way round my feet again. ‘No,’ I say, ‘it’s fine.’

I arrange with the vet to take Lola in for cremation, and then head upstairs, a bone-aching fatigue tugging at my entire body. Lola might have only been in our lives for a short while, but I was attached to her, and I’ll miss her winding her way round my feet all day. As I reach the top of the stairs, that nectarine-scented perfume hits my senses and I see Caro’s Facebook page in my mind’s eye, her face smiling up at Rupert as he gazes down at her in adoration. Enough is enough, I tell myself, opening the door to the spare room and heading straight to the wardrobe. It’s coming up to the second anniversary of her death, so maybe the time is finally right. Maybe if her things aren’t here, I won’t smell her on the air anymore, and the house will finally start to feel as though it belongs to Rupert and me. Maybe I’ll start to feel as though I belong. Maybe by getting rid of every trace of Caro, I’ll let whoever it is that is calling me – that shadow that follows me everywhere I go – that I’m not taking it anymore. That they can send me all the text messages, and call me as many times as they like, I am here to stay. I run my fingers over the fabric of her clothes and start to pull out the hangers sorting them into piles.

‘What the hell are you doing?’

I jump, catching my hair in the empty hangers that dangle above my head. ‘Shit, Rupert, you scared me.’

I manage to disentangle myself and stand, tired and aching, as Rupert surveys the spare room, the piles of clothes that lie on the bed, the dressing table, the floor.

‘I asked what you were doing.’ He doesn’t step forward to kiss me hello, like he usually does.

‘I’m sorting Caro’s things out,’ I say, heat making my cheeks flush pink. Maybe I should have checked with him first. ‘I don’t want to upset you, Rupert, but I live here now. It’s hard for me to live in a house where your first wife’s clothes still hang in the spare wardrobe.’

‘Of course. I’m sorry. You just caught me unawares, I wasn’t expecting it.’ Rupert steps over a pile of high-heeled sandals and pulls me into his arms. ‘And you’ve had a horrible day too.’