Hannah turned redder and laughed. “A bit. I never know what questions to ask. I think I’m nervous because you’re here.” She gestured at me. “And I didn’t know whether to go for the empathy or to ask her why she’s feeling like this, and I just sort of panicked, I guess.”

Linda smiled, her eyes wrinkling. She pushed the table in front of her to one side and scooched her chair closer. “It’s to be expected. Don’t worry. Let me demonstrate a few open questions as an example. Fern, is it OK if I jump in here for a while?”

I nodded, whirling my hands around in my lap. “Yeah, of course.”

“Right, Hannah, watch this,” she said, before turning to me, a totally transformed woman. No longer our quirky teacher who made jokes about Freud, but this calm, authoritative container.

“So, Fern, you say this jealousy is something you’ve had badly in the past,” she inquired, voice like silk. “Do you mind telling me a bit more about that? It sounds like it’s left quite the impact on you.”

I shuffled in my seat, feeling my back sweat against the plastic chair. “Yeah, of course. I just. Well, I said in my application form and stuff that, when I was younger, I had some mental health problems. I mean, I’m fine.” I held up my hand. “I’m sane, don’t worry!” I laughed, but Linda didn’t. She just nodded, like she totally understood it. Hannah watched, equally blown away by a master in action.

“This sounds almost too hard to talk about,” she said. “Is that why you made a joke?”

Emotion coursed up into my throat and I croaked as I spoke. “No. It’s fine. Honestly. I’m just a bit thrown that I’m feeling like this again. I’m not sure what’s causing it. Like, everything in life is fine right now. Fine.”

Linda nodded slowly, as if she understood but didn’t believe. “You don’t have any inkling about what has caused it?” she pressed.

And I collapsed under the scrutiny, let out a sigh, and felt more emotion bubble in my stomach. “Well, an old friend from that time in my life has got back in touch. She’s just moved around the corner actually. She put an offer in on a flat last month and it got accepted.” I looked everywhere but into Linda’s penetrating eyes. I knew, if I looked back, her gaze would be there to greet me, but I couldn’t. “And my boyfriend and I have had another argument about him not wanting to get married, which freaks me out. And, I guess that, combined with being around this old friend has brought back a lot of memories and insecurities.”

“Of course, that makes sense. Memories about anything in particular?”