‘Take care now,’ Charlie said as she left. He hoped he would be able to help her. It was the work of a few minutes, time-wise, but it might make a big difference to her. Walking back to his desk, he made a note in his diary to check on her case again in a week or two, and, if necessary, hassle the council himself.

When he looked up again, he saw a woman in his doorway. She was clutching a folder to her chest and looked a little nervous, but very familiar.

‘Hello,’ Charlie said, rising from his desk and holding out a hand. ‘I’m Charlie Thorpe. How can I help you?’

The woman smiled, and then it clicked.

‘Of course,’ Charlie said. ‘You’re Rachel, aren’t you? We, er, met last night at your sister’s place.’ Unsurprisingly, he’d been more concerned about getting his trousers back on than paying attention to the woman and child who’d appeared at that highly embarrassing moment in Holly’s home.

Rachel smiled, blushing slightly. ‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘So, what can I do for you?’ Charlie hadn’t made the connection when he’d seen Rachel’s name on his appointments list, but, of course, she had been married, so her name was different now to Holly’s.

‘It’s about my son, Harry,’ Rachel replied, still smiling. ‘You, er, met him last night, too.’ She took a seat in front of the desk.

Charlie made a mental note to get some comfortable chairs to put in the bay window of the room as he, sat back down behind his desk, although it felt a little formal. But then, he figured, given the position he was in when he’d met Rachel last night, perhaps a little formal distance was just what was needed.

‘How can I help?’ Charlie smiled, trying to forget that the last time Rachel had seen him, he’d been spreadeagled on top of her sister with his trousers round his ankles.

‘I don’t know if Holly’s told you about Harry’s condition, but he was born with cystic fibrosis.’ Rachel paused and shuffled the folder she’d brought in with her. ‘There’s a new generation of drugs coming from a large pharmaceutical company, but there’s a hold-up because the company can’t strike an agreement with the government to supply them on the NHS. So far, they’re in a stalemate.’ Rachel handed over some documentation to Charlie that outlined the issue in more detail. ‘I did speak to Mr Fitzgerald about it back when Harry was a baby, but he was unable, or unwilling, to progress the case, so it kind of stalled here, as well.’