‘Your face is all grumpy,’ he said. And smiled. This was something we’d seen in an old movie. This character kept saying ‘your face’ when replying to a question. It was really stupid and childish and we’d stopped doing it ourselves a year or so ago. We’d just forgotten about it. I was amazed – and curiously pleased – that it seemed to have made a reappearance.

‘I’m serious,’ I said.

‘Your face is serious,’ said Aiden. ‘And your face is depressed.’

‘It is now I’m talking to you.’

‘Ha, ha, good one, Ash-face.’

‘Your face is an ash-face,’ I said and we both cracked up laughing at that.

So he never did confirm Charlotte’s diagnosis, but the fact that he was in such a good and talkative mood seemed to indicate she was on the right track. He’d been so intense the night before last. Scarily so. I could almost hear those hormones racing through his body.

I felt both of us were in for a tough time of it for the next couple of years.

Turns out I didn’t know the half of it.

I heard Mum and Dad arguing on their video-call later that evening. Aiden and I had gone to the pool, but I’d got out to use the bathroom and it was as I was going back that I heard Dad’s voice in the kitchen. I don’t know why I stopped. I wouldn’t normally listen in to my parents’ conversation – mainly because it would be really boring – but for some reason, maybe the tone in Dad’s voice, I stopped by the door and peeked in. He had his back to me and he was staring down at the tablet in his hand. I took a step or two to one side. I didn’t want Mum to see me appear in the corner of her screen.

‘I understand why you have to be away so often, Chrissie. I do,’ said Dad. ‘The work you do is incredibly important and you know I’ve always been totally supportive …’

‘So what’s changed now?’ Mum’s voice was a bit tinny and there was a slight echo to it, but she was in New Delhi, so the reception probably wasn’t as good as normal.

‘Nothing’s changed. It’s just that Ashleigh’s getting older, becoming more independent and I think I really need to take a look at my life, what I’ve achieved or what I could achieve, before it’s too late.’

‘You’ve always been happy to stay at home …’