She didn’t turn round to see if he realised she’d made a little joke; she was almost sure he had no sense of humour, but she didn’t want it confirmed.

Petal came back into the room, still talking: ‘Must go, see ya, doll.’ Almost the moment she had disconnected, the house telephone went. ‘Oh,’ said Petal, breezily confident, ‘that’ll be for me.’

Thea took a gulp of tea, wishing it were red wine. Now Ben was seated, she couldn’t get past him to the fridge. ‘Would you mind very much passing me a bottle of milk? And the lump of cheese? The fridge is just behind you.’ He had already seen her kitchen, so the inside of her fridge should be no shock to him, although Thea wouldn’t let anyone very nervous look in it. ‘The semi-skimmed, in the door.’

He handed her the milk and cheese. Petal was still on the phone, making arrangements. Soon, Thea’s other lodgers would begin to arrive back from their weekend haunts, and the kitchen would be more crowded and cooking would be more difficult.

‘I do wish Petal would get off the phone,’ said Ben and Thea together. They looked at each other and Ben smiled.

It transformed him, but as Petal hung up the phone at that moment, Thea looked away before she could work out why. When she looked back again the smile had gone.

‘Oh, by the way, Thea,’ said Petal. ‘Aunt Molly’s coming over later.’

‘Oh, God, why?’ Too late, Thea realised that this must have sounded extremely rude to Molly’s relatives. ‘I mean, I’m just so busy at the moment.’ Thea tipped the milk into the pan. ‘Do you know why?’

‘Some art appreciation tour or something. On Wednesday.’

‘Well, it’s my day off on Wednesday, so I can probably go. I’ll give her a ring later. Save her the trouble of coming over.’ It was more to save Thea the trouble of sanitising the kitchen. Ben Jonson might look about him disapprovingly, but at least he kept his thoughts to himself. Molly would be voluble on the subject of Thea’s standards of tidiness and hygiene.

Petal frowned. ‘I may have got it wrong, but I’m sure she said something about France.’

‘France?’ Thea, whisking hard, was wondering if she’d made enough sauce and wasn’t really listening.

‘Yeah. I think Aunt Molly wants you to go to France with her. On Wednesday.’

Thea put down her whisk, leaving a smear of cheese sauce on the worktop. ‘Try and think, Petal. What did Molly say? She can’t possibly be asking me to go to France with her on Wednesday.’