Sarah Kanowski

And he painted this incredibly vivid portrait of his rural life, which, as I said earlier, I thrilled to.

It was like,

Oh, my God, I want to be there.

Can I take a thermos of coffee to him?

What about the house on the harbour with his kids?

Well, this became the biggest issue in the relationship, I suppose, and also the reason it ended.

He wouldn't show it to me initially.

And the excuses unfolded.

Initially, it was because we were only very new in the relationship.

Then it became...

My mother's staying with me because she's having the floorboards of her harbourside apartment repolished and the fumes of the polish are giving her migraines.

So she's staying with me for a while.

Then it became, I'm moving out.

Everything's packed up because I'm renovating it so that the teenagers, my growing kids can have more space when they're teenagers.

So everything's packed up.

Besides, it gives me really unhappy memories.

I don't like to be there except when the kids are there.

Then it became, I can't have you there unless they're there and they're not ready for that because it's our cocoon.

It was where we sort of all bunkered down after the divorce.

So the excuses unfolded.