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‘I just wanted to check in before I . . .’ She trailed off, not quite knowing how to finish the sentence. ‘I just wanted to make sure you’re OK, Sarah. Angela’s already in surgery, and her mum’s just been taken in for assessment. She’s suffered a concussion, and they want to make sure she didn’t breathe in too much dust. Like you, little fairy.’

‘She’ll be out before the end of today,’ Callum confirmed. ‘Just a few hours of observation.’

‘That’s good.’ She smiled at Sarah.

‘Livvy? Can I have another hug?’

Liv’s eyes flicked to Callum, who gave her a crooked smile, which she took as agreement. ‘Of course, you can.’ She sat on the bed and held out her arms. ‘But I’m pretty mucky still.’

‘Don’t care.’ Sarah snuggled against her and placed a kiss on her cheek. ‘Thank you for coming to get me when I got stucked. You’re braver than all the Disney princesses all together and my hero! Thank you, thank you, thank you!’

‘You’re more than welcome, Sarah. I was always going to come and get you. I’m glad you’re safe. That’s the most important thing.’ She found herself tearing up, and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from sobbing all over the little girl in her arms. It was just too painful.

After a while, she reluctantly pulled away, and placed a gentle kiss on Sarah’s forehead. ‘You were so brave today, and you really are a very special, very wonderful, very sweet and clever little girl. And you are so, so very loved. Whatever happens, promise me you will remember that?’ She smoothed Sarah’s hair down and tugged the covers more tightly around her.

‘All right.’ She nodded sleepily.

Liv felt Callum behind her as she stepped back into the corridor.

‘Liv, you were incredible back there.’

She didn’t really know what to say. Regardless of what had happened in the last few hours, the pain from their argument was still raw, and feelings of betrayal and anger still burned in her chest. ‘I’ll clear my things from the surgery and drop the key through your letter box.’

‘Liv, that’s not necessary.’ Callum reached out to her, but she stepped back, knowing nothing had changed. Or, more accurately, everything had changed from a few days ago and the promises they’d made to each other. He didn’t trust her, and without trust there wasn’t really any hope of a future.

‘I’m sorry, but I think it is. I’m glad Sarah’s going to be fine, I really am.’ Her voice broke under the strain of unshed tears. ‘But I don’t think anything has changed. The surgery, Broclington, the community . . . it’s your home. Not mine.’

‘Liv, it could be your home too.’

‘For a while, I thought maybe that was true. But . . . I’ll be gone in a few days, Callum. I’ll take the job they rang you for the reference for. It’s only another locum position, but it will give me enough time to sort myself out and figure out what it is that I really want to do.’ All the feelings of safety and security that she’d felt around him, all the hopes for the future had melted under the heat of his anger, and she didn’t know how to get them back.

‘Liv, please don’t do this.’

‘It’s already happened, Callum. You made your feelings very clear.’ She turned away while she still had the strength. She’d already been in a relationship where she’d had to convince herself that she was happy, and she’d promised herself that she’d never settle again. So she focussed on putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to burst into tears. She only made it a couple of dozen steps before something occurred to her, and she span on her heel. ‘But just so you know. I applied for that job before we’d talked. Before we’d made any promises. It doesn’t make any difference now, but I just wanted you to know that. I’d never set out to hurt you, or to betray your trust. And I would never, ever, ever have hurt Sarah. I just needed to say that.’

* * *

The events of the day slammed into Callum, rendering him speechless. The huge argument with Liv, the car crash, nearly losing his daughter, crawling through the debris of the café, and the relief of her being all right was just too much.

His knees gave way and he slowly slid down the wall behind him, unable to make sense of what was happening, and certainly not able to respond or chase after Liv. He wouldn’t have known what to say even if his legs had worked enough to follow her.

* * *

Liv folded another jumper and sat it amongst the others in the overly-full suitcase. True to her word, she’d finished packing up her things, and returned the surgery key that night, and had rapidly packed her Broclington life in a few short days. She dumped the last jumper into the case and squished it down, trying to force the zip closed while wondering why she seemed to have so much more stuff to pack than when she’d moved here just a handful of months ago. Had she really bought so much in her new life here? Not that there had been any point in it.

Finally, the zip gave in and moved and rushed around the corner of the case, only to split open. Liv looked at the gaping hole and burst into tears. Angrily, she shoved the case off the bed and collapsed onto it. She wrapped her arms tightly around her pillow, and cried into it, overwhelmed by sadness, anger and embarrassment. And betrayal. She’d honestly thought that Callum had cared about her, and wanted to help mend her broken heart, but instead of helping her heal, he’d let her down at the first obstacle and left her feeling shattered.

She’d trusted him and opened her heart to him, believing him when he’d said they could be something serious. Something real and permanent to each other. And that was what hurt the most. That despite all his lovely words, his sweet gestures and what she’d thought they shared, when it came to the first obstacle, their first challenge, he hadn’t cared enough to fight for them, to give her the chance to explain, or to listen to her.

She’d started to let herself dream about a life where being snuggled between Callum and Sarah would be a nightly event. Where she’d help brush Sarah’s hair, tuck her into bed with a story and favourite bear, before sharing Callum’s bed and everything he had to offer.

She’d even thought — hoped — that one day the little girl might call her “Mum”.

She dashed away the tears that scorched her cheeks, angry at her foolishness. She wanted to be angry at Callum, but he’d done nothing wrong. This time it wasn’t a man who had broken her heart. The only person she could blame for the current burning ache in her chest was herself.

She wrapped her arms around her waist, helplessly trying to comfort herself as she stared around the empty room. The cottage that had been so warm and welcoming, so full of promise, when she’d arrived, now seemed stark and cold.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and Liv morosely pulled it out and glanced at the glowing screen: Callum. Resolutely, she pressed ignore on the last person she wanted to talk to. Almost immediately the phone buzzed again. This time she hesitated. She really didn’t want to talk to him, and she thought she’d made that more than clear at the hospital, and every time he’d tried to contact her in the few days since.