By Friday, she was certain he had moved on and she had given herself a stern telling off that she would not mope after a man she had met only a short while ago, and a pep talk that this would be the weekend where she started to conquer her fears about returning home, so when he rang her on Friday afternoon, her spine bristled with irritation and she let it go to voicemail. She wasn’t in the mood. Although the week had passed quietly, apart from her mother’s nagging, frustration was kicking in. The police had no updates for her and there had been no word from Lauren.

Liam left her a message, which she refused to listen to, then he became as persistent as her bloody mother, calling another half a dozen times, before taking it a step further and showing up on her doorstep with Tank in tow.

‘I’ve been calling you,’ he told her, catching her off guard. She hadn’t been expecting him, assuming the knocker to be either Rosie or Josh. Both of them had been quiet the last couple of days.

‘I’m aware.’

‘So why didn’t you answer?’

She would have shut the door on him, but noticed he had one of his big feet conveniently over the threshold, so instead she turned to walk back into her flat, could hear footsteps as both Liam and Tank followed.

‘Hannah?’

He sounded exasperated, which had her hackles raising. This was his doing. He had no right to be annoyed with her.

‘Stop right there.’ She put her hand up. ‘You do not get to walk in here acting like everything is okay after ignoring me all week.’

‘I haven’t ignored you. I wasn’t aware you’d tried to contact me.’

‘I didn’t!’

She said those two words with such annoyance, Liam’s blue eyes widened and even Tank looked at her in concern. ‘So what’s the problem then?’

Seriously?

She wanted to rage at him, but he seemed genuinely baffled, and a tiny part of her couldn’t help wondering if this was who he really was. He led such a nomadic lifestyle, perhaps he simply wasn’t used to having to consider someone else.

No, stop making excuses for him.

‘You can’t just waltz in and out of my life like you’re doing,’ she told him, trying to keep her tone even-tempered. ‘You’re either full on one hundred miles an hour or nothing at all. You were here on Monday and we talked about you coming back to Hixton with me this weekend, but then you vanished and I’ve had no idea what your plans are. Whether you are still coming with me or not. If you were even planning on getting in touch again.’