‘Or maybe it would prove that you’re serious about changing. It might make her trust you more with Isla.’

He puts his head in his hands and Joel gives me a hang-in-there look.

‘You need to do something,’ he says. ‘Come and stay with me.’

Douglas lowers his hands.

‘I couldn’t. There isn’t room and, as much as I love crashing on the couch, it’s too far to commute to work.’

‘Can’t you work remotely?’ asks Joel.

‘For a bit, maybe, but still, I couldn’t stay with you. It would be too much.’

‘Is there anyone else you could ask?’ I chip in. ‘Detoxing isn’t going to be pleasant.’

He’s silent for a minute. ‘My brother, maybe.’ He shrugs. ‘He lives with his wife in St Albans. They’ve got a spare room, at least.’

‘There you go.’

‘But I don’t understand how being there will be any different. I’m sure if I was going to get help I could stay where I am.’

‘Do your flatmates drink socially in the flat? Do you go for after-work drinks with them?’ I ask.

He nods.

‘See, that’s how being at Jake’s will be different,’ says Joel. ‘He’ll be there for you. He looked out for you on the stag do when you—’

‘I don’t think Edie needs to hear that story.’

I raise an eyebrow.

‘I don’t think anyone needs to hear that story so early in the morning,’ says Joel, laughing. ‘Right, so here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to call Jake and see if you can stay, and then we’re going to find you a counsellor in the local area and an AA meeting, and we’re going to look up how you safely detox.’

‘Yes, that’s really important. I remember from Dad that the advice was not to just stop and go cold turkey as it’s too dangerous.’

‘You’re also not going to forget that night in the cell,’ says Joel. ‘You’re going to remember how close you were from royally fucking things up any time that you crave a drink.’

Douglas rubs at his eyes.

‘You can do this. I know you can.’ My heart breaks to see him in this much pain. ‘Life can be really, really shitty and throw some awful things at you, but the one thing I’ve learnt is that you really are stronger than you think. Even though things seem impossible and insurmountable. You will get over them.’

‘And we’ll be here to help. I am always on the other end of the phone.’ Joel reaches out and puts his hand on top of Douglas’s.

‘Thank you,’ he says, with a nod, and Joel nods back.