‘No, thanks, babe. I just want you to relax.’ The endearment rolls off Luke’s tongue easily, but Lizzie sees Dan stiffen. They both know she isn’t a babe.

‘I want to help. Let me finish the rest.’ Lizzie tries to take the tea-towel from Dan’s shoulder, but he moves away.

‘Nothing to do.’ Dan swipes the towel across the work surface with a slightly camp flourish before tossing it onto the floor next to the washing-machine. ‘We were just coming in to sit with you.’

‘We should really be going.’ Lizzie tries to sound regretful.

‘So soon? I thought we could watch a film with Lenny,’ Luke says, from behind her.

‘Lenny is very tired.’

‘No, I’m not, and I don’t want to go back to the shelter.’

‘Lenny!’ There’s an edge to Lizzie’s voice.

‘We live in a shelter,’ Lenny tells Dan, ‘and I don’t know why. I hate it there and I want to go home. I miss my dad.’ Then he bursts into tears, his thin shoulders shaking.

Luke rushes over and says, ‘It’s okay, mate. It’s all going to be okay.’ He puts his arm round Lenny, and Lizzie can see that Dan is thinking how wrong it looks.

She goes over and positions herself between them. ‘Come on, Lenny. Let’s go.’ Lizzie needs to go home. The shame and guilt about the way they live now is too much for her. Dan and Luke are too nice, too normal, for her. She’s going to mess them up, and they don’t deserve it.

‘Please don’t leave on my account.’ Dan frowns. ‘Why don’t we all sit down and watch a film?’

He looks at Luke, who says, ‘I’ve got popcorn …’

Lenny looks up at that. Poor Lenny. So easily pulled and pushed across the chess board. A little pawn. ‘I like popcorn,’ he says, wiping a tear away with his sleeve.

‘Me, too,’ Dan says, going to the cupboard and pulling out the packet. Seeing how comfortable he is in Luke’s home makes her understand she never will be. She should never have started this.

‘It’s the proper stuff,’ Dan is saying. ‘We can make it with butter and toffee sauce.’

Lizzie has never made popcorn with Lenny before. She’s always thought it a pointless snack, nothing but air and indigestible kernel skin. What a useless mother.

‘Is he okay to have sugar?’ Dan says quietly.