A loud knock on the door disturbed my research. I got up to answer and found Jon on the doorstep. ‘Oh!’ He was completely naked apart from two recycling boxes, a small black compost one held over his groin, another slightly bigger one, used for plastics, covering his backside. I burst out laughing. ‘Well here’s a sight you don’t see every day. What the—’

He pushed past me. ‘Let me in, please. I’m freezing my balls off out here.’

I shut the door behind him. ‘So? What happened? Someone’s husband returned and you had to make a fast exit?’

‘No, no. How could you think that?’

I rolled my eyes.

‘I got locked out. I need my key. You do still have it, don’t you?’

‘Ah, leaving your key here: has this all been a ploy to present yourself on my doorstep?’

‘Ploy? God, no, Bea, not at all.’

I looked down at the strategically placed bin boxes. ‘Oh, so doing your recycling at last, were you? Couldn’t decide whether to put yourself in with the compost or the plastics.’

Jon sighed. ‘I’d just come down from having a shower in my dressing gown and thought I heard someone at the door. I opened it, Chief ran out before I could stop him—’

‘Chief? Who’s Chief?’

‘My dog …’

‘You have a dog?’ This was news to me.

‘Long story. I’ll tell you one day when I’m not naked.’

‘So he ran out the door?’

‘Yes. I leant out to grab him, only just caught him, and shoved him back inside, and then the door slammed shut, catching my gown in the door and leaving me starkers outside.’

I started laughing again.

‘Not funny, Bea. It’s below zero out there.’

‘And there was me thinking you’d come over to do the dance of the seven bin boxes.’

‘All I could find,’ said Jon, but he laughed too. ‘I know, not my sexiest outfit. I am truly sorry, so could you let me have my key … unless you’d like me to stay, that is? You know we have a connection, you must have felt it the first time we met—’

‘Nice try but no thanks.’ I turned around and rummaged in a bowl where I kept assorted keys.

‘I appreciate how things may look to you,’ Jon persisted. ‘I just think when I moved here, it wasn’t the right time for us, but—’