When April awoke in the early hours, she was transported back to that moment a year before when she had sought out the warmth of her husband only to find his dead body. The coroner had been unable to give a precise time of death and the only thing April could be sure of was that she had gone to bed a wife and woken up a widow.

Clinging to Dexter’s warmth as she waited for dawn, April kept her mind off the ticking clock inside her head by browsing the Internet on her phone. She was drawn to the photograph Justine had posted on Twitter from the Christmas party. She was glad Nick wasn’t in the group photo, but there was someone she wished had been there. Erin’s husband plagued her thoughts.

She wondered how he would feel if he knew that when he had held his wife’s hand and listened to her take her last breath, it was another man who held her heart? It was entirely possible that Erin had made some deathbed confession, and April’s feelings of injustice on her husband’s behalf were misplaced, but when she looked up the fundraising page, she didn’t think so. Josh was organising a charity gala dinner in her memory a few days before Valentine’s Day. What better expression of love and devotion? He had no idea what she had done to him.

April’s eyes grew heavier as she looked up the details of the fundraiser. It was to be held in a hotel on the edges of Sefton Park in Liverpool and there were tickets still available. She knew the area fairly well because she had been to several festivals held in the park. Her last visit had been for the Liverpool International Music Festival, and Jason had been the designated driver, leaving April to drink far more than was good for her.

Tempted into the memory by tiredness, April closed her eyes and Jason stayed with her until a tap on the door from her mum startled her.

‘Did you want me to bring you up a cuppa and some toast?’ she said.

April rubbed sleep from her eyes. The room was full of morning light that hadn’t been there moments ago. ‘What? No, no, I’ll have a shower and come down,’ she said.

‘How are you feeling, love?’

It was a question April was going to be asked a lot, making her wonder if taking the day off work had been the best idea. ‘I’m fine, Mum. I just want it to be over if I’m honest.’

Her mum paused, torn between leaving April in peace or sitting down on the edge of the bed to wait for the tears she expected to follow. She stayed by the door. ‘Sue phoned. She’s invited us out to lunch.’