‘Not behind closed doors, though, Daniel. I won’t go down that rabbit hole. I don’t fit.’

‘I’ll be better,’ Dan vows.

‘Just be yourself.’

‘I’m still working out who that is.’ Dan lifts one of Atticus’s hands from his shoulders, squeezes it in his own. ‘Help me find out.’

Afterwards, they lie together, Dan’s head on Atticus’s chest. ‘I’ve missed you,’ he whispers to Atticus. ‘I’ve missed you through all the years before I met you.’

It’s the truest thing Dan will ever say to Atticus.

Lizzie

(Secrets and lies)

‘I WANT YOU TO MEET my cousin, Dan.’ Luke and Lizzie are in his kitchen making a roast dinner while Lenny watches Hotel Transylvania in the living room. There’s crumble for dessert and the kitchen smells of cinnamon.

‘Oh.’ Lizzie doesn’t want to. She doesn’t want to meet anyone. ‘The one you’re doing the Ironman with?’

‘Yep, he’s my best friend. He’ll love you and Lenny.’

Lizzie doesn’t want to meet Dan. She wants to have Luke to herself. Likes the person she is around him. He looks at her like Greg used to. She misses that. She needs that, not group dinners with friends.

‘So, shall I invite him over?’

Lizzie shakes her head to clear her thoughts and sees Luke is holding his phone. ‘Oh … I … Now? It’s a bit soon.’ They’d only slept together for the first time a week ago.

‘Well, we have enough food …’

Anger sits at the base of her spine. It runs fingers over her vertebrae, wanting to play, but all she can do is nod and say, ‘Yes. Why not? Two hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of edible food go to waste each year in the UK. Meanwhile, eight point four million people struggle to afford food. That’s the equivalent of the population of London.’

Lenny rolls his eyes and asks if he can go and play football.

‘Sure thing, dude,’ Luke says, opening the back door, then he walks over to Lizzie. ‘You are so sexy when you talk statistics.’ He kisses her, full on the mouth.

Greg used to say the same thing to her. She felt it, too, then – sexy, desirable. She doesn’t feel that now and pulls away from Luke. ‘The crumble will burn.’

An hour later, Dan is sitting across from them at the dinner table, chatting to Lenny and complimenting Lizzie on her roast potatoes. Fitz and Wolfie are in the living room, talking about their owners.

‘We’ve earned these carbs,’ Luke says, running a brick of Yorkshire pudding through a puddle of thick gravy on his plate, ‘with all the training.’

‘Bloody Ironman,’ Lizzie says, then stops herself before she says more.

‘You’re sick of hearing about it, too?’ Dan asks, then blushes and goes back to his dinner.