She dropped her eyes as she passed Joe’s house, in case he was home. She’d promised to avoid him like the plague, and she was doing her best. Eyes to the ground, all the way up to the gate, just to be on the safe side. Her key was in the lock before she noticed the windows. She’d opened them all wide before she went out. Today was the first day in weeks she’d felt a fresh southerly come in. But he’d shut them all.

‘Steve?’ She could hear movement in the kitchen, but no answer. ‘Steve? Why’d you close the windows?’

The movement in the kitchen stopped. She poked her head into the second bedroom and found the curtains drawn in there, the bed bare; a small, wrinkled imprint in the sheets where William had lain.

‘Steve?’

She threw her bag down on the carpet in their bedroom. If he wasn’t speaking to her it was going to be a long day. She’d been hopeful not ten minutes ago, full of plans. All of it withered in the atmosphere of the house. The wardrobe doors were ajar and she crossed the room to close them. It was too quiet in here. Something nagged at her. She stood in front of the wardrobe and threw the doors open wide, scanned the contents. Several hangers were bare. Steve’s shirts, the ones he wore most often, were missing. The jacket she’d given him for Christmas was gone too.

Mandy looked around, trying to think through the shock. There was space on the dresser where there had been clutter. She pulled the drawers out and looked inside. Only her things remained. Steve’s shirts, socks, underwear, shorts, were gone. All of it.

‘Steve?’ Her voice was thin. ‘Steve! What the hell is going on?’

The kitchen door opened and Steve’s footsteps approached, slow and heavy. She could hear William’s agitated breathing, the squeak of his dummy.

‘I was going to leave a note.’ Steve stood in the bedroom doorway with a box under one arm, William balanced on his hip. ‘Forgive me, Mandy, but I didn’t have the stomach to say goodbye.’

She couldn’t speak. She shook her head and stayed where she was by the dresser with the drawers standing open. Steve looked at her as if from a great distance.

‘I’ll come with you,’ she said. ‘We can move to Victoria, like you said.’

He hitched William further up his body. ‘I’m leaving you, Mandy.’

‘You don’t need to go.’ His words registered as she spoke. It was impossible, what he’d said. She raised her voice. ‘I decided, while I was out. We can move. I came home to tell you I made my mind up.’

‘I’m leaving you.’ He stared back at her. ‘I’ve put up with enough. More than a man should have to put up with. I’m a mug for sticking around as long as I have.’

‘But I’m keeping to what we agreed! I’m giving it my best shot, like I said I would.’