‘… and now he’s gone away, Belles. He’s just buggered off, no note, no response to any of my emails, he’s still not answering his phone …’

‘Oh, Pops. Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?’

Poppy gave a snort of laughter through her tears at this. ‘Yes. Yes, I do. He told Lars that he’s going on a road trip across the States on his own. He told him that he needs to find himself. When the fuck did the man I married turn into such a ridiculous bloody hippy?’

Bella laughed. That sounded more like the old Poppy.

‘So you’re just going to wait till he comes to his senses?’

‘I can’t do that, Belles; he’s drinking like a bloody lunatic at the moment, God knows what’ll happen to him. No, I’m going after him.’

‘How on earth are you going to do that? America is huge …’

‘I know exactly which route he’ll take, silly sod – it’s been one of his adolescent dreams for years. We used to plan it when we first started going out.’

An idea was starting to form in Bella’s mind.

‘How much of a head start on you, do you think he’s got?’ she asked.

‘A day or two, I suppose, though from what Lars told me, I imagine he needed at least a day to recover after their final binge, before setting off.’

‘Can you hold off another day?’ Bella could hear her own voice rising in excitement.

‘It’ll take at least another day to sort everything out. Why?’

‘Well … what would you think about me coming with you?’ Bella looked at Andy enquiringly, but he was smiling and nodding, giving her the thumbs-up.

‘You’d do that? Really?’ Poppy sounded as if she was about to cry again. ‘But what about your work?’

‘I’ve literally just finished one commission, with two weeks to go until I need to start the next one. Timing couldn’t be better, Pops, really!’

‘Really?’ Poppy repeated. Bella had seemed so resentful towards her recently that she’d been steeling herself for Bella’s reaction to her news. She’d actually thought that Bella might blame her; this response was the last thing she’d anticipated. ‘Oh, Belles, it would make everything so much more bearable …’

‘You never know, it might even be fun. Thelma and Louise, eat your heart out!’

‘Well, in that case …’ Bella could hear Poppy pulling herself together. ‘You’d better start looking at flights. Where are you, by the way? Your phone didn’t have a UK ring to it …’

‘Oh, only Paris, darling …’

As she hung up, Bella looked over at Andy again. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind? I know it’s totally out of the blue, and spontaneous and silly and everything, but I really think Pops needs me …’

‘I think it’s a fantastic idea. It’ll do you good to have an adventure – you’ve been going a bit stir-crazy, stuck in the flat on your own, with Poppy gallivanting around the States and me working late every night. I’ll miss you like mad, though …’