‘Did he recognise you?’ Bella’s question drew her thoughts.

‘Yes, of course he did – it’s only two and a half years since he last saw me!’

‘What did he say? “Can I have my room key and, by the way, sorry about all those sausage rolls that must have gone to waste when I did a runner and left you standing like a tit in the vestry!”’ Bella’s anger was still very close to the surface.

‘We weren’t having sausage rolls, it was a three-course, sit-down meal with little chocolates served with the coffee with our initials piped on them . . .’ She pictured the very things; they had looked . . . exquisite.

‘Listen to yourself, woman! He ditched you at the altar, and don’t you dare think one nice thing about him! Your face that day, Merrin. You looked . . . you looked broken.’

I was broken.

‘And I shall never forget it. And if it wasn’t for the whole bloody fiasco, you might have stayed closer to home and right now be sitting opposite me instead of hiding in a cupboard with the lights off.’

Merrin gripped the phone and closed her eyes; her friend’s accurate assessment was like a punch to the throat.

‘I don’t like him being here, Bells. It’s made me think about it all over again. And you don’t have to remind me of how terrible it was – I don’t want any part of him.’ She whispered the truth. ‘I know it sounds stupid, but seeing him, it’s . . . it’s scared me.’ There was a crack in her voice, as if further evidence were needed.

‘You don’t need to be scared, Merry. You are safe and happy; this is just like peering off the edge of a cliff – a bit unnerving, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to fall. You are safe, you’re on solid ground.’

Merrin nodded. ‘It’s taken me a long time to . . . to feel less shaky . . .’ she admitted.

‘I know, I know, babby. And you have given that man more thought and more minutes of your time than I think is right; he was a blip and you need to make the decision not to give him a minute more. He doesn’t deserve you, he never did.’

‘Thanks, Bells.’

‘S’okay, mate. I miss you.’

Merrin cursed the pull of tears that would smudge her make-up when she needed to get back to work. ‘I miss you too.’

‘You have a lovely life, Merry – you live in a castle! You get to have sex with the gorgeous Miguel! While I sit here with my scruffy son, who usually needs his bum changing, hanging around my feet.’

‘Would you swap your scruffy son with a dirty bum for a life in a castle?’