I followed her to our room next door, where she promptly bagged the best bed, the one nearest the French windows that opened onto the balcony. I let her get her way; it was rarely worth fighting Ava once she’d set her heart on something, unless you really, really wanted it. Then I left her lying there in the sunlight and went off to have a bath.

The bathroom was amazing. It was really clean, with no mould at all, and it was stocked with little bottles of shampoo and body cream and the fluffiest, whitest towels and dressing-gowns you could imagine. I filled the bath very full and had a long soak and lost track of time. When I finally emerged my skin was pink and my fingers and toes were wrinkly like a newborn baby’s, and I felt all scented and fancy and like I could get used to this.

Ava was still lying on her back on her bed and looked as if she hadn’t moved, but when I came closer I saw that she had her earphones in. She looked up at me and opened her eyes and smiled. I wished she could look like that all the time, as if she wasn’t at all angry with anybody.

‘The bathroom’s very nice,’ I said.

She frowned, sat up, took one earphone out, asked me to repeat myself. Then she said, ‘So it should be. This little trip must be costing Mark the earth.’

‘Shouldn’t you start getting ready?’

‘In a minute. You might be all keen to play happy families, but I’m not.’

She put the earphone back in and sank back down onto the bed.

‘You know, if you’re not careful Mark’s really going to end up hating you,’ I said, thinking that she either wouldn’t hear me or would pretend she hadn’t.

‘He won’t,’ she said without opening her eyes.

‘How can you be so sure?’

She sat up again and took out both earphones. She looked really irritated now. ‘Because he can’t afford to.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because they have news for us, dummy. Big news. Or little news, depending how you look at it. They’re probably going to tell us tonight.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘You think you’re so smart. You figure it out.’

She put her phone and earphones down on the bedside table – however annoyed she got, she was always careful with her phone – and stalked off to the bathroom. The door shut firmly behind her. Not a slam, but a warning. The lock clicked into place.

Why did I have no idea what she was talking about? Why did I never know anything… until it was too late?

I went over to the wardrobe to pick out an outfit for that evening’s meal. It was going to be three courses in the hotel restaurant, which I’d admired in the brochure: it had rose-coloured walls and fancy lights, and round, tablecloth-covered tables. I was a bit apprehensive, but mostly I was excited. Why did Ava have to go and spoil things? And why did she always have to be so superior?