‘Good, I think. At least, Agnes says I’ve got roses back in my cheeks.’

‘She speaks good English, then?’

‘She speaks four languages. She claims to be a little rusty at English, but I think she’s amazing,’ he said proudly. ‘She used to be a translator but she’s retired now. Well, I say “retired”, she runs a dog rescue centre and has a field she rents out to campers.’

‘She sounds lovely, not to mention very enterprising.’ I smiled; it was so good to hear the enthusiasm in his voice. It seemed he had found a foxy frau after all.

‘I think she’s marvellous, and she’s great company; if I’d known how much fun you could have being retired, I’d have done it years ago. Up until my accident she was acting as my tour guide. I’ve been to places that tourists would never normally go to.’

Such as the inside of an operating theatre, I mused. ‘And how are all your broken bits?’

‘Recovering nicely,’ he said briskly. ‘Nothing to worry about.’

‘No more motorbiking, okay?’

‘Don’t worry; I’ll stick to Agnes’s sidecar from now on.’

‘You’ll do no such thing!’

‘I’m teasing,’ he said with a chuckle.

‘You do sound happy.’

‘I am,’ he said brightly. ‘I’ve missed having someone who cares about me.’

‘Oh Dad,’ I said quietly. I cared about him and so did Evie, but I knew what he meant. He missed having someone to share life’s ups and downs with, or simply someone to mull over the minutiae of the everyday. Even though I was rarely on my own for long, I missed that too and I’d only been single for a matter of weeks; Dad had been on his own for over a decade.

‘And I’ve missed someone to fuss over in return. Not that I can do much at the moment; I’m a liability. But she calls me “Schatz” – I wasn’t sure about that at first, it sounded a bit rude, but it means treasure. It’s a long time since I’ve been anyone’s treasure.’

‘Evie and Darren said she’s very nice.’

‘She is. She’s made the last couple of weeks very enjoyable.’

My heart squeezed for him and in that moment I don’t think I’d ever missed Mum more. But it was good that he was moving on. He deserved happiness.

‘So,’ I said, remembering why I was phoning him, ‘when do you think you’ll be home?’

‘Can’t drive for another few weeks, so Agnes is stuck with me. But she’s got a few jobs lined up for me; I doubt I’ll have time to get bored. And,’ he paused to clear his throat, ‘I’ve heard that Munich at Christmas is lovely so I’ll probably stay until at least then.’