Jonathan rang me on my mobile yesterday; thankfully nobody was in my office at the time. It was supposed to be an interview of sorts, but I could tell straight away that it was just a formality. I tried to picture him, but I couldn’t put the voice to the face. I was nervous in any case, trying not to let it show in my voice. Slightly exaggerating my management consultancy experience – whatever, it did the trick. He said he would employ me on a three-month temporary contract, just to get things started. If I liked it and he liked my work, he would extend it. He booked my flights and emailed me the times – I will have to pick up the tickets at the airport.

I saw my boss at the end of the day and handed in my notice. With annual leave owing, I’ve only got just over two weeks left with the company. She wasn’t happy. I made a pretence at apologising for leaving her to find a new HR manager but in reality my heart was singing.

So, today I made one of my rare trips out in public. Although I wanted to go to the post office to get some US dollars, I was reluctant to head straight there in case Lee was watching. He was supposed to be off working somewhere, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t busy following me. He’d done it before; he’d done it so often that I saw his face everywhere I went. Probably most of the time I was imagining it, but not always.

I strolled around Boots for a while, pretending to look at the pregnancy tests – that ought to get him going, I thought, if he’s watching – and then the make-up.

My flight was booked for 4pm on Friday 11th June – my last day at work in the UK would be the Thursday, the day before. I decided to buy a suitcase and leave it at work, sneak important things out of the house, clothing, one or two items at a time, more when he wasn’t there to see. I could hide the suitcase in my storeroom at work – fortunately I was the only person who ever went in there. It wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t a way I’d ever packed before, but it would have to do. I’d take the minimum amount of clothes and buy new stuff when I got to New York.

There was still a lot of stuff in the house, though. I couldn’t just pretend I was suddenly deciding to de-clutter – it wasn’t worth the risk. With my New York salary I could afford to keep up the rent on the Lancaster house, for now. Maybe in a few months’ time I could come back and hand the keys back to the landlady, and clear out my stuff. All I needed was a few months, just long enough for him to forget about me and move on.

I chanced a look up, over the top of the display counter, and there he was – right over the other side of the store, by the entrance, to one side – wearing his suit, today, I noticed – maybe he’d had some kind of a meeting with the management.

I had to pretend I hadn’t seen him, although I’d have loved to have given him a wave. It put paid to my plans to visit the post office, though. I would try again tomorrow – I’d tell him I needed to collect a parcel for a friend, or something.