I don’t blame her. I blame myself. Why couldn’t I have learned these lessons before I damaged her and my daughter.

‘How heart-warming,’ Angelica says. ‘But what about the effect on your daughter? Playing Happy Families with Gemma might make you feel great, but it’s rubbing Casey’s nose in it – offering this woman what you have refused to give us for the last twelve years. Besides, we both know you’re not in this for keeps.’

‘What if I do want to be?’

She stares at me. ‘You’re talking to me now, Dan. Don’t bother pretending.’

‘I’m not. This has changed me. Casey has.’ Gemma has.

‘Oh my God, you’re for real.’ Something in her tone chills me.

‘I get why you’re suspicious, you’ve every right to be. And it must be hard for you to see that Casey does want me around, after you’ve done all the work, but what if you did let me do my share? It might make your life easier.’ My nerves mean this comes out in a rush.

Angelica pours herself a glass of water. She walks back towards me and I wonder for a moment if she’s going to chuck it in my face.

‘How much do you want to be in Casey’s life?’

‘What kind of question is that?’

‘I’m trying to get it quantified. What you’d give up.’

‘What do you want me to say? Money, a finger, a limb?’

As I speak, it hits me: I’d give up my own life for Casey. The knowledge is so deep, so certain, that despite the darkness of the thought, it also feels like a kind of happiness.

‘You need to choose,’ she says, and for a second I think, She’s lost it completely and actually does want a pound of my flesh.

But then I understand.

‘You want me to choose between Casey and Gemma?’

She nods. ‘If you’re really committed to Casey, you should be focusing all your attention on her, not on some ridiculous infatuation with a woman you just met. Besides, what a child needs is stability. Are you telling me that in the span of a few weeks you’ve gone from being a commitment-phobe to a guy who wants parenthood and cosy coupledom? Do you even believe that yourself?’

‘Who says I can’t do both? Just because you’re on your own, you think I should be too?’

Angelica shakes her head now. ‘No. It’s not about me or you. Our priority has to be our sick daughter. You’ve had twelve years to play the field while I’ve stayed single to make sure Casey doesn’t get close to men who could disappear. Like you did. So if you can’t put Casey first now, you don’t deserve her.’

Is she right? I know sod all about how this works. What if it is impossible to love both of them enough? Perhaps it is ridiculous to think I love Gemma when I’ve only met her half a dozen times. Except, right now, it’s one of the only things I can trust. I do love her. And I think it’s possible she might love me back.