But now, as he stirs, she knows that he can smell the bacon she’s cooking for breakfast. He always used to call her bacon butties the breakfast of champions.

There’s so much Maddy longs to know – about where he’s been and what’s happened to him, but she knows she must be patient. She gets up and walks to the kitchen to butter the rolls.

‘Hey,’ she says, as Jamie shuffles into the kitchen area and sits on the bar stool by the counter. He has the duvet wrapped around him.

‘Hi.’ They smile at one another and Maddy forces down the urge to cry. He’s really here. In her kitchen.

‘I should tell your dad,’ she says. ‘I should tell him that you’re safely home.’

‘He won’t care,’ Jamie says.

‘He will,’ Maddy says, feeling defensive on Trent’s behalf.

She’d rung him after she’d rescued Jamie from the pier, but she’d told him not to come until Jamie was out of hospital. He’d wanted to drive down straight away, but she’s persuaded him not to and he’s been ringing her phone non-stop since. She knows she owes him an explanation, but she needs to straighten things out with Jamie first. ‘Your dad was worried sick. About you.’

‘That’s a first.’

‘Jamie.’

‘I don’t know why you defend him, Mum.’

She needs to tell Jamie that she and Trent have separated.

‘About your dad,’ she begins. ‘There’s some things I need to tell you.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ he says.

There’s a beat as she meets his eyes. ‘You know?’

He gives her another meaningful look and she realises that he means he knows about the affair. And this fact clunks into her head, like a new record slotting into a juke box. Maddy flips the bacon in the pan.

‘You mean, you knew? About Helen? About their affair?’ she asks.

‘He was a dick about it. I threatened to tell you and he … well, that was the end of the line for us.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘It felt too mean … and I wasn’t sure you’d have believed me. And Dad … Dad said that, if I did, he’d never speak to me again and that I’d ruined his life.’

‘Jesus.’ Maddy can only imagine Trent saying this. No wonder he was so adamant about Jamie leaving and Maddy not searching for him.

‘When did you find out?’ Jamie asks.

‘Not until Christmas Day. The same day as I heard your message. That’s when I left to come to look for you.’

‘But it’s June.’

‘I know. You’ve been very difficult to find.’ She takes the pan from the heat and turns off the hob. She walks over. She cups his face. ‘But, believe me, I’ve really tried.’

She tells him about the posters, the viral posts on Instagram and the private detective and finding out about him staying in Oriental Place. She tells him too about volunteering at Home Help and meeting Vic and how her hopes were raised, briefly, but how Vic had said how tough it was being homeless and it had made her feel sick.