‘And I’m still hungry,’ Sebastian grumbles. Lenny offers him half of his sandwich and Lizzie reminds him he isn’t allowed to eat his yet either. Lenny and Sebastian sigh and roll their eyes, making her smile and Luke laugh loudly and freely.

She’ll lie awake for hours that night, wondering what she thought she was doing. She knows how stupid, how dangerous this is. It’s too soon and she’s too scared and her trust has gone. She’s risking everything, and for what? A smile from a stranger who’d run a mile if he knew who he was sitting next to and what she hid beneath her clothes. But those thoughts are for later. For now they just eat lunch together. She nibbles the head of a gingerbread man, while Luke wolfs down an overloaded wrap.

After they are ‘finally’ allowed lunch, Lenny and Sebastian go off and get ice-cream. The spring sunshine makes the grass look greener than it really is, so Lizzie offers Luke an arm of her biscuit and a crumb of her life. ‘I used to be a teacher too.’

‘Really? Where? Down here? What year?’ So many questions, it makes her head spin.

‘Not here. Primary, same as you. Year Six mostly.’

‘God. Now I feel like you’ve been assessing me the whole time.’ Luke blushes shyly.

‘You’re a good teacher. I’ve seen Lenny’s half-term booklet. Interesting choice of topics. Lenny is looking forward to making a submarine.’

‘He’s a good lad, that one. Dojo point for him when we get back.’ Luke swallows the ginger arm and bites into the apple Lizzie refused. ‘You going back to it, teaching?’

Lizzie nods at Lenny, who is chasing Sebastian with his ice-cream. ‘I went back when Lenny was a year old but trying to get the kids through SATs with a baby who doesn’t let you sleep was too hard.’ She’s very pleased with this sentence and how plausible it sounds. She tells herself not to touch her mouth, a sure sign someone is lying.

‘Do you miss it?’ Luke has finished his apple and throws the core into the bush behind them. He cuts off Sebastian’s ‘Sir, that’s littering’ with ‘It’s biodegradable. Concentrate on writing up your report before I make you spell that.’ Sebastian drops down and grabs his exercise book.

‘I do miss it,’ Lizzie says slowly, ‘but I’m too far out of the loop to go back right now, and Lenny wouldn’t want me at his school.’

‘Yes, he would. He adores you. He talks about you all the time.’ Lizzie is so pleased, tears sting her eyes and she has to wipe them away quickly before they fall.

‘There’s always the other school in the village, Our Lady of Lourdes.’

‘The Catholic one?’

‘Yes. Not your thing?’ Luke’s eyes are all the colours grass can be in this light.