He smiled at her. ‘That’s right.’ He had a bad feeling. It wasn’t that Hannah’s name had come up – he and Loren were divorced and the evidence as to why was currently sitting on his lap and slurping juice. But Loren’s unscheduled visit must have an agenda and it was tricky dealing with someone who had a different view of reality to yourself, especially when they were in stealth mode.

‘Hannah’s Rob’s sister, and me and Maria like her a lot,’ Josie added. Then, picking perhaps not the best moment for a candid question, she peeped at him. ‘Is Hannah your girlfriend now, Dad? I saw you cuddling at Farmor’s house.’

‘Yes,’ he said gently. Ideally, he would have checked with Josie that his relationship was OK with her and he hadn’t agreed terms of reference with Hannah either but at least the casual question indicated a willingness for Josie to absorb Hannah’s presence in her life.

Both Loren and Vivvi greeted the news in silence.

Josie had never met a silence she couldn’t fill. ‘Hannah went to Sweden with us and she can whoosh along on ice skates, like Dad does! And we made a snowman family of us in Farfar’s garden.’

Nico could have changed the slant by explaining that Hannah joined their winter trip to help with the girls after Lars was rushed into hospital with a heart attack. He didn’t. Everything had changed last week and Loren was entitled to know who was playing a part in Josie’s life and how better than from Josie’s own lips?

It was another half hour before coffee was drunk and Maria had got over her shyness sufficiently to accept a hug from her mother. Nico wanted to get to the bottom of Loren’s visit. ‘I bet Grandma would love to see yours and Maria’s bedroom,’ he said to Josie.

Vivvi must have been in accord with his wish to speak to Loren alone because she jumped at his plan. ‘That would be great!’

‘Yeah!’ Josie leaped to her feet. Maria, her faithful shadow, cooed, ‘Yeah!’ too and leaped to hers. Their voices travelled through the sitting room and faded up the stairs.

When footfall told him they had reached the room over his head, Nico propped his elbows on the table. ‘You’re still scheduled to be in rehab, aren’t you? Or are you out for Christmas holidays, like at school?’

Loren looked away and sighed. ‘When you’re trying to give something up, the desire has to come from inside. Rehab’s an intolerable regime. And therapy feels like punishment.’ She continued irritably, explaining, excusing, making the system sound the next thing to abuse.