‘Tube,’ I told him as I climbed in, ‘like the rest of the world. I cannot believe you’ve driven over here! That is so sweet!’

I did, indeed, think it unbelievably sweet, and it happened a couple more times. Closer to home in Clapham, and then, down the road, in Fulham. Helena’s eyes widened when I told her.

‘He sat outside Sara’s supper party waiting for you?’

‘Isn’t that divine?’

‘Or slightly creepy?’

I frowned. ‘What d’you mean?’

‘Well, hasn’t he got a life of his own? Why does he have to keep such firm tabs on yours?’

This was so like Helena, who’d been dumped a couple of months ago, and, as always, when she was unhappy, lashed out at the nearest person – her flatmate and sister. The situation was often tense in the flat. In her unhappiness at losing Ant – who was completely gorgeous, incidentally, a kind, unassuming boy, unable to take the heat of high-maintenance Helena – she increasingly took it out on me. With this in mind, when Michael suggested I move in with him, I thought it a good idea. I’d get to be with my boyfriend, and Helena would be better off sharing with a friend, who she’d have to be more considerate of. Plus I knew Millie, her best mate, was looking.

My family, however, were not so thrilled.

‘I thought you liked him,’ I said in surprise to Mummy when, having been encouraged to come on my own, I went down for the weekend. I was chopping a salad with her in the kitchen.

‘I do,’ she said carefully. ‘But Luce, you’re only twenty-two. And he’s thirty-one. And much as I can understand he’s ready to settle down, I’m not sure you are. I’d say you’ve got a lot more living to do. And he’s only your first serious boyfriend since … you know.’

‘The accident,’ I said shortly. ‘Liam.’ It still hurt to say it, that name, but not as much, I realized. Now that I shared the guilt and sadness. Now that someone was carrying some of the load with me. And that that someone should be anything other than loved and thanked by those around me, for bringing me back into the real world, from out of my dark place, seemed to me an abomination. A travesty of justice.

‘It’s Helena, isn’t it?’ I seethed. ‘You’ve only met him once and you and Daddy both said how much you liked him. Helena’s poisoned you against him.’

‘Now that’s much too strong,’ said my mother mildly, doing something creative with radishes and simultaneously taking a sip of her Martini. ‘Helena’s just concerned. And you’re right, we have only met him once, which isn’t much, considering you’re moving in. It’s Ant who’s concerned, actually.’

‘Ant? Really? You know he’s finished with her, by the way.’