‘She’s had a shock,’ Jake told him. ‘She’ll be fine, I think. Krish’s up there with her.’

Sean hovered for a time, abstractedly replying to Jake’s questions about how were things, how was college. He fidgeted round the table, leafing through the newspaper, standing, as he so often did, with his weight on one foot, twitching the other up and down. Then he shambled off towards the door.

‘Sean,’ Jake said gently. ‘You do know Olivia’s not completely well?’

Sean shrugged. ‘Who is?’ And disappeared.

Theo and Ben came crashing in soon after, Theo with a pile of books. ‘Best get packing,’ he said, taking swigs from a can of Pepsi.

‘You going somewhere?’ Anna asked.

‘Yeah. Mom wants me home in sunny Smethwick for the rest of the holiday. Doesn’t make much sense when I have to sleep in a shoebox with two of my brothers, but she likes to keep the family together – and of course I come in handy for minding my sister, ’cos the others are all at work. Anyway, you don’t argue with my mom, basically.’

Anna grinned. Theo had cheered the place already. ‘Have a good time,’ she said.

Theo rolled his eyes comically in response.

‘Won’t be the same without him, will it?’ she said to Jake when Theo had bounced out of the room. Ben slouched past with a steaming mug of something.

Jake’s mind seemed elsewhere. ‘Look, I don’t think you should be staying tonight. You’ve had a bad month and it can get very moody round here.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Anna said firmly. ‘I feel all right now – really. She just took me by surprise. Come on,’ she joked. ‘I don’t think I need a minder.’

‘Sorry.’ Jake looked sheepish. ‘Didn’t mean to take over. But look, if there’s any problem – ’ He wrote on a piece of paper. ‘This is my number. Call any time. I don’t mind.’

‘Thank you,’ she said, touched. ‘That’s nice of you.’

Again he hesitated. ‘Will you come round tomorrow? For that meal I was threatening to cook?’

Anna laughed, cheerful suddenly. ‘Yeah – great. Thank you.’

*

Despite her assurances to Jake, when she found herself alone again she felt jumpy and apprehensive. What had happened in the kitchen seemed like a dream now, but when she went back in there much of the chaos Olivia had created was still in place. She thought it typical that Ben had apparently not even noticed. Jake had sorted out the kettle and replaced the packets which had not broken open, but the floor was still wet and there was a thick sludge of sugar and coffee on the table.

Convincing herself she felt calm, she found a Tesco’s bag, shovelled the mess into it and wiped the table down. She was searching for a mop and bucket when she heard sounds from the long room next door. Heart thudding, she went in there.

‘Oh Anna, hello!’ Olivia produced a wonderful smile which, had it not been for the white binding on her hand, would have made what had happened earlier seem impossible. ‘I’m so glad you’re still here. We were afraid you would have given up on us and gone.’