The river of tears which soaked my face and neck fell not just for my new friends and a couple of trees, but for the whole of Wynter’s, along with everything it had come to represent. Ned, David, Maya, Chelsea, Liam and everyone else danced through my head on a sort of merry go round and I sobbed as I watched them all go by.

With Ned’s help, since I’d arrived back in Wynmouth, I had finally unpacked the multiple boxes of mental baggage I’d been carrying, but I hadn’t once allowed the dam to properly burst. Now my tears were washing everything away and I wholeheartedly allowed myself to be swept along with them. I sunk down next to the fire and finally gave myself permission to cry my heart out.

‘Liza! It’s me. Are you here?’

I was upstairs when Ned and Bandit eventually came in. I’d finished off my transformative cry out in the shower and was feeling a whole lot better. Granted, my eyes looked a bit red and swollen, but that was only to be expected given the gallons of tears which had poured out of them. I didn’t think I’d ever have another one to shed.

‘Yes,’ I called back, somewhat huskily but feeling light in my heart. ‘I’ll be down in a minute.’

Wren was pregnant, my tree muddle had been rectified and I was on my way to tying up the loose ends which would free me from Wynter’s Trees and set me off on my merry way. All was right with the world.

Aside from the fact that I still needed to convince my heart that my feelings for Ned weren’t going to amount to anything. Okay, so not everything was right with the world, but the keel definitely felt more even than it had before.

‘Hey,’ Ned softly said, when I padded down the stairs in my animal print pyjamas and dressing gown.

‘Hey,’ I said back.

We stood staring at each other for a few seconds. I was reluctant to come all the way down the stairs. It was nice to look him straight in the eyes for once. Actually, it was a bit too nice. I hastily skipped down the final two steps.

‘Come and sit down for a minute, will you?’ he asked. ‘I need to talk to you.’

The look on his face and the change in his tone told me I was forgiven and I realised I needed to keep busy around him. I knew that, having already looked deep into his eyes, a sit-down talk would be too much for my already rapidly thumping heart.

‘Aren’t you hungry?’ I asked, nodding towards the kitchen. ‘We can talk while I make us something to eat, if you like.’