‘Maybe.’ Hannah laid her cheek on her mum’s shoulder. ‘I’ve brought my gifts to leave here, in case I don’t. If – if you see Nico and the girls, will you give them theirs, please?’ She rushed on. ‘You’ll have Rob and Leesa and Nan. Everyone at The Three Fishes and The Angel you’ve known your whole life long. They’re here for you.’

Jeremy chirped up. ‘And for you, Hannah. Don’t forget that. And for you.’

Hannah nodded, then arranged her Christmas gifts beneath their half-decorated tree and spent an hour driving The Bus under Jeremy’s instruction. ‘Such an old gal has her little ways,’ he explained, as they sailed sedately up Main Road and past the cotton-wool snowman outside the school. ‘I’ve fitted a quick shifter so she won’t shake you to bits when you change gear. Go gentle with her. Fifty’s top speed or you’ll blow her up.’

‘I’ll take it steady,’ she promised, wondering whether she’d blow up if the engine did and if she’d care.

In freezing rain that matched Hannah’s mood they filled up with fuel and checked tyre pressures. Jeremy showed her how to transform the seat into a bed. ‘And, see,’ he said. ‘The radio looks retro but it’s repro and has iPhone connectivity and DAB.’

‘Wow,’ said Hannah, mechanically.

She hugged everyone goodbye, battling guilty tears at white, anxious faces, then drove carefully back to Nan’s, feeling strange and high up compared to her normal driving position. The engine was at the back and clattered like a giant sewing machine. At the cottage, she flung in her bags and bedclothes and didn’t bother connecting her phone to her dad’s smart radio. She got in as stiffly as if her heart was pumping slush through her veins, and drove.

Anywhere that wasn’t here.

Nico stayed up late in case Hannah came, thinking about her warm lips and hot mouth. Waiting, tied to the cottage by sleeping girls upstairs, he opened the Christmas box of Roses chocolates and ate about twenty. For the seconds the sugar was in his mouth he felt better.

When the comfort swung to guilt he drank black coffee to drown the taste of the chocolate and resisted the urge to purge. It was strong but he was stronger, he told himself. Everyone got urges and you had to challenge those suckers. That’s what he’d told Loren this evening.