‘What, you went to New Side?’ Daniel took a long swig of his beer to alleviate the shock.

‘Yes. And we survived.’

‘You took Hope to New Side?’ His voice had risen a few notches. Another swig.

‘I thought you were neutral in the Feud of Ferrington.’

He shrugged. ‘No one’s really neutral.’

‘Well, I am.’ I gave him a pointed look. ‘Anyway, what I was saying is, I loved helping. But there’s more to this. I’ve been freeloading off you for over a week now, eating your food and using up your hot water. I think we need to talk about what happens next.’

He put down his spoon and looked at me steadily. ‘I said you’re welcome to stay as long as you want.’

‘That’s ridiculous. You don’t even know me.’

‘I know that you left London in the middle of the night and drove through a storm to get here with nothing but a few jumbled bags of clothes, even though you’d not heard from Charlie in well over a year. So, whatever the reason for that might have been, unless it might follow you here, or if there’s any possibility I might end up in trouble for harbouring a criminal… Apart from that…’ He paused to glance at me then, and to my shame, I simply nodded. ‘You can stay here as long as you need to.’

‘Thank you.’ I swiped at the tears now spilling over onto my cheeks, and Daniel gave a small smile to show that he knew how much I meant it. ‘But if I’m going to stay then we need to work something out. Rent. Bills. Food.’ I offered a figure that seemed reasonable, and to my surprise, he nodded his agreement.

‘Fine. But if you’re going to continue acting like my housekeeper and Hope’s impromptu nanny, then I need to pay you.’ He quirked one eyebrow before, predictably, offering me almost twice the amount I’d offered to pay in rent.

‘No.’ I shook my head.

‘If you’re going to insist on me paying you mate’s rates, then I’m going to charge you mate’s rates.’

‘How about we call it even? It’s exactly what Charlie would have done.’

Daniel finished off his drink while he thought about that.

I took a fortifying breath. ‘Or… I have another proposition for you. Another idea of Charlie’s…’

And then I got out the notebook, and it was a good job Daniel took that extended nap because by the time we finished talking it was hardly worth going to bed.

12

I had a lot of reasons for leaving London, resigning from my job and abandoning all of my stuff bar the bare essentials. I’d been gathering the courage to move on for a few weeks, as the growing rumble of discontent gradually gained volume every time I sat down to write, but then a parcel arrived on my doorstep, and the rumble became a blaring siren, drowning out all other thoughts.

Every woman with a public profile gets trolled. I suppose every man probably does, too, but I wonder if fewer of those messages involve graphic details about what the recipient should do with their body, or what the troll is going to do to said body. So, as my followers grew, and the trolls reproduced like rabid rabbits, of course I received a regular bombardment of nasty comments. Lucy and I accepted these as par for the course, deleting, blocking, and reporting as appropriate. That isn’t to say that they didn’t affect me. Many of them inspired nothing more than an eye roll. Some of them had Lucy and me laughing at their brilliant ingenuity. Far too many of them simply made me feel grubby and ashamed.