After signing off with his dad, he telephoned Carina, deciding he’d better get in quick with the leaving work news before it filtered back to her. She greeted his explanation with a pregnant pause. Then sighed. ‘Nico.’ She sighed again. ‘You’re all right, aren’t you?’

‘The best I’ve been for ages, Mamma. Honestly. Life had become pretty hectic.’

‘I know.’ She sounded close to tears. ‘You had too much, with your job and Josie and what happened with Loren. Where is Maria?’

‘Still with us.’ He glanced at the girls. Josie was trying to write in wax crayon on Maria’s hand and Maria was snatching her pudgy little digits away and giggling. ‘Tickles, Yozee! Tickles!’

‘Still? Her mother can’t have her?’ demanded Carina, sounding troubled.

‘Should be this week,’ he said. He was speaking in Swedish but somehow he didn’t want to invite discussion of Maria going back to Loren in the noisy, public environs of McDonald’s. He switched to English. ‘Josie can’t wait to bake with you next week.’

‘Saffron buns,’ Josie said, glancing up with a grin that showed the gaps where her grown-up teeth met her remaining baby ones. The last of her summer freckles spangled her nose and Nico’s heart contracted with love.

‘Saffransbullar,’ he promised. ‘Do you want to talk to Farmor?’ He took over entertaining Maria by drawing around her hand with a crayon while Josie excitedly told Carina about their new bedroom and the purple satin curtains they’d bought from Dunelm at the weekend. ‘Dad chose the kind with eyelets so he could just stick the curtain pole through them because he said he doesn’t like all that pratting around with hooks.’

Once the call was over he took the girls home and spent the evening being a dad, watching Josie on TTRockstars, the online times-table resource Barrack Road didn’t seem to have cut her off from yet, and playing counting games with Maria. One and two remained her favourite numbers. After a dinner of steamed chicken and vegetables – Nico couldn’t help compensating for the burgers a little bit by preparing the healthiest meal he knew – Josie sighed, ‘I wonder what Tilly’s doing?’

Nico gave her a hug. ‘Maybe she’d like to FaceTime. Why don’t you message her and ask?’

‘Yeah!’ cried Josie. It transpired that Tilly was missing Josie so they were soon chatting, Josie carrying the tablet around to show Tilly the house and Maria trying to touch Tilly’s on-screen image and breathing in astonishment, ‘It Tilly! Look!’ Then Josie FaceTimed Emelie and Maria got excited, trying to force her head in front of Josie’s and shouting, ‘Em’lie! Em’lie!’