Amy’s dad nods but doesn’t hold out his hand. I have a flashback to when he gripped a bit too hard and a little too long and feel relieved, then uneasy.

“You’re our first dinner guest since we moved in,” Jane says.

That’s weird, because they’ve lived here for months, but she’s right. All the times I’ve watched this place, and I’ve never seen a visitor. The only person who gets close is the mailman.

“Come in,” she says, and I follow Amy into the living room.

I’ve seen this room so many times, but not like this. I can suddenly see everything, and it’s a lot bigger than it looks from my window. There are whole sections I couldn’t see from there, and now I can figure out where they disappear to.

“Do you like it?” Jane says, and, when I follow her gaze, I realize I’m staring at a photograph of Amy and her brother.

“Yes,” I say. “It’s nice.”

“I hate it,” Amy says, and her dad sighs.

“Amy dislikes all her photos.”

“Not all of them,” she replies.

No one says anything for a few seconds, and I’m already feeling awkward. I swallow my nerves and say, “Did Amy tell you I live in your old house, now?”

Her parents both give her a look I can’t interpret, then stare at each other.

“No,” her mum says. “She didn’t.”

“Surprise,” Amy says, just as her brother walks in.

“When’s dinner?” he asks.

He doesn’t sound like he looks. His voice is deeper than I imagined, and he takes up more space than he does from across the street.

“This is Will,” Jane says. “And this is Amy’s friend Tom.”

“Hey,” the boy says.

He looks about ten or eleven, but he doesn’t make eye contact. He just walks past, sits at the table, and starts playing on his iPad.

“You can’t get more than two words out of him when he’s on that thing,” Jane says.

Mum says technology has made us smart in some ways and stupid in others. Her thinking doesn’t go down too well with Nia, but I know what she means.

“We’re having chicken casserole,” Jane says. “Is that okay?”

I nod and wonder how this is actually happening. I waited so long to get in here, and then Amy took a kid, and I think that’s what got me past the hallway. After our kiss, she seemed to get smaller the closer we got to her house, and she couldn’t say goodbye quickly enough. But, now, she’s trying to prove something.