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She doesn’t respond. Instead, she says, “Is Jayden still there?”

“No. He went up to your dad’s house to wait for Emma and Millie.” I pause. “Are you mad at me?”

“You mean for not telling me about his affair? No, I’m not mad. Puzzled, maybe. I thought you would have liked that it would have been a nail in the coffin.”

I run a hand through my hair. “It felt… spiteful, I guess. And it was only hearsay on my part. Bear struggled with whether to tell you. Maybe if you hadn’t broken up with Jayden, he might have, I don’t know. But it felt like adding insult to injury.”

“I guess.”

“Can I come and get you?”

“You don’t have a car.”

“I have Grandad’s.”

“Oh of course. Okay, I’ll wait by the gate.”

“See you in a minute.”

I run up the stairs to find my spare T-shirt, then lock up the shop and go out the back door to where Grandad’s car is parked in the garage. Before long, I’m heading along the road to 35 South, and then I see her, walking back along the road, carrying a takeaway coffee cup. I indicate and pull over, and she opens the door and gets in.

We look at each other for a moment. She’s pale and her eyes are red, but she’s composed.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” I say softly. “I ran after you, but you just vanished, and then I thought that maybe you didn’t want to see me.”

“It wasn’t that. I just needed some time,” she admits. “There aren’t many places to go on the island.”

I do a three-point turn and head back along the road. “I’m so sorry for everything.”

She looks out of the window. “I think he was right. I shouldn’t have married him.”

“Ah, Vix…”

She sighs. “But if I hadn’t, I’d never have had my little girl. It keeps going around in my head. I gave him everything, and for what? I feel as if he took my youth from me. I know that’s ridiculous, but I could have gone to university and done something with my life. I’m not saying having a child is nothing, but…” She stops and swallows hard.

I drive slowly along the winding road to Port Evermore. “Do you know what a bonsai is?”

“Something to do with small trees, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s the traditional Japanese art of growing miniature trees. They’re normal, full-sized tree species that are pruned and trimmed and kept in small containers to restrict them.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a bonsai. They can be beautiful. But imagine someone taking a perfectly healthy tree and cutting it back year after year, until it forgets it’s capable of growing.”

“Are you saying that’s what I’ve done?”

“No, Vix. That’s what Jayden did to you. You just believed him.”

I glance at her. She blinks, too shocked to say anything.

“Since you decided to buy the bookshop,” I continue, “you’ve started growing again. You’ve sounded confident and excited. It’s going to be your business. At the bookshop, you’re not just someone’s ex-wife. Someone’s girlfriend, daughter, or mum. You’re you, complete, whole. Like the bonsai tree, you’ve outgrown the pot, and now you can spread your branches and decide who that person is going to be.”

“Wow,” she whispers. “That was profound.”

“Don’t tell anyone or you’ll ruin my reputation.”

Her lips curve up, but she looks out of the window again. “I hadn’t realised how much of a people pleaser I am. It’s nobody else’s fault. I grew up watching Mum be so amazing at everything. Everyone loved her. She was so capable and energetic. And I felt that I always fell short, you know? I tried so hard to follow in her footsteps. I think she was so disappointed when I didn’t go to uni.”