He shook himself out of Memory Lane, Middledip, and accepted the friend request. Then, because there was no one to see him cyber stalking, looked over Hannah’s profile page for the past few weeks, seeing it full of pictures of Hannah Anna Butik, of Stockholm and one of Hannah with a man with dark hair and a remote expression. Nico regarded him critically, automatically categorising him as ‘Östermalm Man’ with a cashmere sweater tied around his shoulders. He decided from their distant body language that he was nobody special in Hannah’s life.

He followed a link to the business page of Hannah Anna Butik and ‘liked’ it. Then, seeing a picture of his own displays, typed: Awesome! What genius dressed your shop? Must be the best in Gamla Stan.

Then, reluctantly, he returned to the problem of the day and called his boss, Anders, and explained the situation yet again. There was no way he’d change his plans for St Lucia’s Day and his Swedish early Christmas so he suggested bringing forward the week of annual leave presently reserved for February’s spring half-term, speaking English because Anders had this thing about speaking English while he was in the UK and Swedish when he was in Sweden. Anders enjoyed pointless boundaries.

‘This week? From tomorrow?’ clarified Anders, sounding as astonished as if Nico had requested permission to become a Christmas elf.

Nico kept his voice neutral. ‘Yes. Sorry. At least I’m not due in Stockholm. I can work with Katya to rearrange my diary. I should be able to find time while I’m off to work on tenders and contracts. My team can telephone me whenever they want.’

‘And this upheaval is for your ex-wife’s child?’ Anders demanded.

‘That’s right. But I wouldn’t ask to take short-notice annual leave if it could be avoided. She’s a child,’ he added grimly, when Anders remained silent. ‘If I can get—’ He bit back ‘get rid of her’. ‘If I can make other arrangements for her then I will, obviously, but it’s not looking good at the moment.’

‘I understand,’ Anders said, though he didn’t sound as if he did. ‘I’ll leave it to you to talk to HR.’

Nico thanked him and thought that if he was ever asked for a favour by someone in as tight a spot as he was he’d be more generous than Tilly or Anders.

He considered texting Tilly to say he wouldn’t want her at all this week as he’d been forced to take time off but thought better of it. Loren used to complain he gave off a distinct ‘my job’s more important than your job’ vibe and maybe he’d been guilty of that with Tilly. Good nannies your child liked were hard to find and Nico planned to keep Tilly until Josie began senior school.

A small voice behind him said, ‘Where’s Mummy?’