‘He wasn’t technically doing anything wrong when I found him last night,’ I quickly said. ‘He was just walking. He told me likes to walk here and that he used to come and visit with his nan.’

Chelsea nodded and laced her fingers together. Her eyes looked bright again.

‘Yeah,’ she said, her voice thick in her throat. ‘They always came together, every December. They never missed a year.’

‘You didn’t come with them?’

Chelsea tutted. ‘I think we both know the answer to that one, don’t we, Liza?’

I almost choked on my drink. She only ever called me Elf.

‘Yes,’ I said, recovering. ‘I suppose we do.’

‘We lost Mum at the beginning of the year,’ she continued.

‘I’m so sorry,’ I said. ‘I know how hard that is.’

She turned to face me and I could see my own sadness reflected right back at me.

‘I know you do,’ she said, a sob catching, ‘and that’s been playing on my mind so much recently. I know I didn’t show it when you first arrived back, because… well… because I’m stupid sometimes, but I am sorry, you know. Now I know what you were going through when you moved here, I hate myself all the more for what I put you through too.’

I never thought I’d see the day when Chelsea Chalmers would apologise to me and as much as I treasured it, I hated the reason behind why she was doing it. I wouldn’t wish losing a mum on anyone, whatever their age.

‘I appreciate that you’ve thought that through,’ I told her, ‘but I don’t want you hating yourself for it, Chelsea. Grief is hard enough to cope with and if you throw guilt into the equation too, it’s nigh on unbearable.’

I knew that better than anyone given the circumstances surrounding how I’d lost Dad.

‘It hurts so much,’ she whispered, ‘and it’s even harder for Liam.’

‘From what he told me, I guessed they were close.’

‘Oh Liza,’ she murmured. ‘You don’t know the half of it.’

‘What do you mean?’

She turned away and picked up her mug. Her hands were shaking as she wrapped her fingers around it before taking a long sip.

‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean to pry.’

‘No,’ she said, putting the mug down again. ‘You’re all right. It’s just that I didn’t come here expecting to say all this today and especially not to you.’

‘A heart to heart wasn’t what I thought you had in mind when you leapt out of your car, I must admit,’ I told her, with a small smile.