She found an empty bench and sat on it, lost in her thoughts, until a new one popped into her head. She did know someone in Oxford. Someone who might actually be the only person in the world who could understand what she was going through. She reached for her phone, pulling it out and going to her missed calls. There it was, at the top of the list, Freddy’s number. He had called her, letting it ring once, so that she could save the number but she hadn’t bothered. She had assumed at the time that she’d never see him again.

She looked at the number, knowing that if she went ahead with what she was considering, she would be going against her father’s wishes and digging up things that were probably best left in the past. Was it really worth the trouble? Before she could stop herself, she pressed dial.

22

They met in a city centre pub. Freddy put his pint and her white wine spritzer on the table and sat opposite her. They smiled at each other and she wondered if he was as nervous as she was. He certainly didn’t look like it. He had an easy confidence about him that suggested he would be comfortable in any situation, even the odd one that they found themselves in.

‘Cheers,’ he said, raising his glass and she lifted hers up to clink it. She wondered whether they should start with the usual small talk before deciding to cut straight to the chase.

‘I’ve spoken to Mum now, so I know what you were talking about yesterday.’

His smile faltered. ‘I’m really sorry, Katie, I just assumed you knew, which was stupid of me. I felt like such a douchebag afterwards.’

‘How did you know?’ Katie asked. ‘We were so young.’

‘Indie told me about it a few years ago,’ he said. ‘Of course she and Benji were old enough to remember the whole thing but they’d been under strict instructions not to drag me and Ellie into it. When I was about fourteen or fifteen I started asking questions about why Mum and Dad had split up and Indie was more than happy to fill in the gaps.’

‘Your parents must have been furious with her.’

‘Not really, by then I was old enough to know the ugly truth. I think Mum was relieved more than anything that it was all out in the open.’

‘I don’t remember anything about it at all. I can’t believe I had no idea.’

‘I think I always knew something was up,’ Freddy said. He took a sip from his drink and continued. ‘I had no idea it was that but even as a young child you can sense tensions in your parents’ relationship. I think the affair was the straw that broke the camel’s back.’

‘So did you parents split up straight away?’

It felt strange asking someone she barely knew such intimate questions but Freddy didn’t seem rattled. ‘Pretty much. Dad moved out and we all stayed on with Mum at Pemberton Road. Dad got a flat up the road in Crouch End, although he often came to spend the weekend at Mum’s. It sounds weird, I know, but they’ve always been friendly. They probably weren’t when it all kicked off but I don’t remember. Now I think they get on better as friends than husband and wife.’