I’d arranged to meet Amanda in Brinkley’s in Hollywood Road, round the corner from her flat in Tregunter Road. It was a bustling, upmarket bistro, full of thrusting young executives. I’d deliberately suggested somewhere on her doorstep in the hope that she’d like to be allowed back in, which would prevent her from breaking a plate of spaghetti on my head. We weren’t due to meet until one o’clock, though. I glanced at my watch. Ten forty-five. Before then, I was popping home, because Josh had emailed me a few days ago to say that, try as he might, he couldn’t get the heating to work without some weird ticking noise accompanying it. It was driving him mad, and did I have any suggestions? I did, a plumber, but I knew that would be expensive and I’d have to pay, so I told him to take it off the timer. He emailed back to say he’d tried that and the ticking prevailed. Did I have any other ideas? Before he installed a brand-new radiator in the sitting room and sent me the bill? I’d told him I’d pop by when I was next up, and thus, seething slightly, but knowing my eccentric plumbing needed the experienced touch, I drove round to my house. It felt mighty peculiar as I turned into my old road, but luckily, the momentum of having an annoying tenant was enough to keep me from dwelling on worse.

He came to the door – which naturally was weird, as I’d only ever put a key in before and opened it myself – barefoot in jeans. He wore a crumpled white shirt which hung loose, and a rather surprised expression on his face.

‘Oh. Right. Yes, of course. Sorry, I was working. I completely forgot the time.’

‘No lectures today?’ I asked, as he stood aside to let me in.

‘Reading week, as it’s euphemistically called. It’s actually a bit of downtime for the freshers to recover from their mid-term hangovers.’

I smiled. ‘Oh yes, I remember. No sooner have they gone, than suddenly they reappear again in a heap. Oh, golly. You’ve changed it around.’

I’d stopped. He’d been leading me down to the kitchen, but I’d obviously glanced into the sitting room en route. He’d moved the dining table into the bay window, and the sofas to the back. Switched the whole thing around.

‘Problem?’

‘No, not at all. I like it, actually. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.’

‘Well, it works for me because I work in the window where it gets the most light.’

‘Oh, right. Not in the study?’

He made a face. ‘Bit gloomy.’