A frosty breeze snapped at them as they turned onto Gamla Stan’s main street, Västerlånggatan, still busy with shoppers and tourists bundled up in coats. When they reached Burger Town’s red frontage. Hannah undid her coat as they stepped into its brightly lit interior of chattering people enjoying a fast-food fix. ‘I’m having halloumi bites with fries, coffee and a brownie. What about you?’

Nico shuffled awkwardly and glanced at the illuminated menu above the counter. ‘Just coffee.’

He looked so uneasy that Hannah’s neck prickled. ‘No food?’ She added encouragingly, ‘It’s my treat.’

He looked at her as if she were speaking Martian. ‘No food,’ he agreed. Then, tautly, ‘Thank you.’

‘Right, OK.’ She felt her cheeks heat. She was doing this all wrong. Nico obviously suspected that she was trying to do him a favour and his pride had kicked in. Damn. She wanted to help, not hurt. ‘Why don’t you grab a table while I queue?’

He nodded, then headed for a booth, pulling off his coat.

Hannah ordered far more food than she needed: a large meal, a side of Town Wings and two cinnamon buns. Gathering ketchup and mayo she joined Nico. Even scruffy and underfed he still garnered second glances, she noticed as she put down the tray of food. Two nearby women were obviously discussing him like schoolgirls.

She sat down, hoping she wasn’t disappointing his admirers too much, dragged off her coat and started on the first wrapper. ‘They made a mistake and gave me a large meal instead of medium. And the buns are two for the price of one so I thought I might as well get one for you. If you don’t want it now you can take it with you.’ Aware of rushing the fibs out she dipped a fry in ketchup and popped it into her mouth. It was hot and burned the back of her tongue, making her voice hoarse as she pushed the pack invitingly across the table. ‘Want some? No point it going to waste.’

Slowly, Nico took a fry and ate it. Then he removed the lid from his coffee and sipped.

It was Hannah’s turn to feel uncomfortable. When Nico had turned up at Hannah Anna Butik he’d appeared, apart from the skin-and-bones look, happy to see her. Now he was frowning and giving the food dirty looks, discouraging her from nudging him again to eat. She thought about asking after his family, particularly Lars, who she’d known quite well. But people in trouble often isolated themselves from loved ones.