I ducked into the bathroom and started scrubbing before she could see my hands trembling.

Daniel messaged to say that he’d not be back for lunch. I shoved down the immediate thoughts of panic that I’d scared him away forever, and made a cheese and tomato toastie.

Dad and Grandma joined me with locally bred ham and mustard rolls left over from the Weighbridge Walkers’ picnic choices. Not a squeak of halloumi anywhere.

Ah, home sweet home. I took a happy bite of toastie and sat back in my chair.

‘Did the woman find you?’ Grandma asked, around a mouthful of white bread.

The toastie formed a solid lump halfway down my throat. ‘What woman?’

I was torn between being relieved I hadn’t decided to come home, and terrified that someone from the Alami family might come looking for me while I wasn’t here to deal with it.

‘She phoned. Asking for you.’

‘Did you get her name?’

‘I did!’ Grandma nodded eagerly, before pausing to think. ‘I can’t remember it.’

‘Okay, it doesn’t matter.’ And if it’s who I think it is, they won’t have given a real name, anyway.

‘She sounded posh. Like that woman off the telly.’ That made Grandma smile. ‘Perhaps it was her! Maybe she wants to invite you onto her show.’

‘Maybe.’ I smiled as brightly as possible considering a heart-in-a-box-posting stalker was quite possibly still on my trail.

‘Did you tell her where I was?’

‘I don’t know where you are!’ Grandma shook her head. ‘I said that you live with a friend now and to try there.’

‘Did they ask what friend?’

‘Yes. I told them your friend who had died.’ She frowned. ‘She hung up then.’

‘Okay. If she calls again, please don’t tell her I’m staying with Daniel. She might be a deranged fan.’

‘Who’s Daniel?’

I felt pretty confident that my secret was safe with Grandma, even if I did feel sick to my stomach at the thought of this person contacting my family.

Worst of all, I realised with a jolt of horror, this meant they had definitely figured out my true identity.

I waited for Grandma to shuffle off to the lounge room to watch ‘that lovely man’ and made sure I caught Dad’s attention before he rushed off to the next job.

‘Dad, I’m a tiny bit concerned about that call. If it is an obsessive fan, they might come here.’

Dad beetled his brows. ‘Why would they do that if they know you aren’t here?’

I shrugged. ‘They might think Grandma’s lying.’

‘Oh no, they’ve spoken to me and your mother, too. We were very clear.’

Him too?

‘Okay. Thank you. But if they are really obsessed, they might come here anyway. To find out more information, or see the place where I was raised and used to work. They could book in and then try to trick you in pleasant conversation into giving more information about where I am. Or, I don’t know, poke about until they find a phone number or something.’ Sheesh, Eleanor, stop! I was really scaring myself now!