‘Thanks, Alan, but I’m going by myself.’

‘I don’t like the idea of you putting yourself through this, Sophie, especially alone.’

‘I’ll be fine.’

Alan looked miserable. He still hadn’t got his head around Katie and Freddy’s relationship. They’d told Tom the whole story and it hadn’t gone well. Even now, months later, Tom hadn’t been back home to visit yet, and he always called Sophie on her mobile when he wanted to speak to her to avoid the risk of Alan answering the landline.

Sophie gained no pleasure from her son’s animosity towards Alan. She had worked extremely hard to forgive him after his affair. The healing process had been long, and painful at times, but they had succeeded. The wounds had healed. The young children, the glue that had kept them together at first, had grown up and no longer bound them in the same way; yet they stayed together. Now she was with him because she wanted to be, because she loved him. Because he loved her. When she looked at him, she never saw the man who had broken her heart. She only saw her loving husband who had been by her side for twenty years.

But when it came to Angie, there had been no healing process, no cathartic marriage counselling. The wounds of her friend’s betrayal had not been treated so the idea of seeing her again felt as raw as the day she’d left. With one last glance at her old house, Sophie took a deep breath and climbed out of the car. I’m here now. Might as well get this over and done with.

Nausea rose inside her as she made her way up the steps to the front door. With a shaking hand she knocked and waited for Angie to answer it. When she did, a few seconds later, Sophie almost gasped out loud. Angie was still as beautiful as ever but she looked so pale, gaunt almost.

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, ‘My goodness, Angie, what’s happened?’

Angie didn’t say anything at first, she just stared at Sophie as though she’d seen a ghost. Finally, she sighed and said, ‘You could always read me like a book. You’d better come in.’

Sophie followed Angie into the kitchen and took in the once familiar surroundings. It looked strikingly similar to how she remembered, with only a few small adjustments to suggest that a decade had passed. As Angie busied herself making tea, Sophie looked out of the bifold doors, straining to see if the gate between the gardens was still there.

‘The people who bought the house from you insisted we get the gate taken out,’ Angie explained, reading her mind. ‘They thought it was a bit creepy.’

Sophie chuckled, despite herself. ‘I guess it kind of was.’

Angie drew out the process of making tea until the silence was almost unbearable. Eventually she brought the drinks over to the kitchen table and gestured for Sophie to sit down.