Just before she was going to leave the footpath and cross back to Bankside to work her way through the streets of nice big houses like Carola’s, their roofs painted white with snow now, she heard a familiar, ‘WOAH, WOAH!’ and saw Doggo galloping towards her like a small horse, ears back and tail flying. Baz, probably well suited to exercising the big dog as the youngest of the bar staff, was being towed breathlessly behind.

She crouched to fuss Doggo delightedly, greeting Baz with a grin. ‘You’ve got dog-walking duties?’

‘Yeah,’ Baz agreed, getting his breath back. ‘It seemed a good way of earning a fiver.’ He dropped his voice. ‘Isaac’s moved some woman in upstairs. She’s ill or something.’

Smile pinned on, Lily tugged her hood up more securely and made to move around Baz, though Doggo seemed to think he might be going with her and stood in her way. ‘She’s had an op so needs someone to look after her for a bit.’

Baz screwed up his forehead. ‘Is that even a thing? Shouldn’t you be in hospital if you can’t look after yourself?’

Lily actually found herself laughing. ‘On the NHS? What planet do you live on?’

When they’d said their farewells, Lily turned in the direction of home. Once there she awarded herself an hour lying on the sofa with a family bag of Quavers and the TV remote. Channel-hopping, she found a new series called You’re Just a Mess where a combined life coach and house doctor called Ms Might descended on people and threw out all their crap, mental and actual, counselled them, shouted at them, and sent them on their way with a new life. ‘Pah!’ Lily snorted at the screen. ‘What makes you the world authority on everything, Ms Might? How is it helpful to make someone throw out their doll collection if it makes them cry?’

She was just thinking reluctantly about getting ready for work when her phone sang out her FaceTime tune. Turning her phone over she read Tubb on the screen and sighed as she muted the TV. She had to speak to him some time. ‘Hi,’ she said flatly, after tenting her legs to prop up the phone. She counted up in her head. Was it really only six days since that awful scene when Tubb and Garrick had exploded her life?

‘Hi.’ Tubb cleared his throat. ‘Sorry I couldn’t be there when you left. Rushing Ona to hospital took precedence but I certainly didn’t mean you to leave the country without … Well, I never meant to let you leave like that.’

‘Right.’ She waited. Uttering more words would give her voice the opportunity to shake, betraying the way her heart was beating with a mixture of dread and hope. He’d initiated the call so he presumably had something to say.