He’s right. He shouldn’t be around people. He goes from room to room, writing on his hand in black biro. Then up his arm. Eventually he sits on the bottom stair and looks up at me.

‘OK, two options: either I can just cart this all away and store it and sell it in our various shops – proceeds go to cancer charities – or we can have a charity auction and the proceeds can be split between different charities.’

I stare at him. His eyes are … beautiful.

‘I hadn’t thought about it. I thought you would take care of it.’

‘Yeah, we do. But if you had a preference … Look, it’s going to have to go into storage anyway, so how about I take it and you decide later. Within a week, if possible.’

‘Yes, that would be good. Do you do this for a job?’

‘Yep. Minimum wage. I just get paid for thirty hours a week and donate the rest.’

I have to go. I want to stay here with Lee and my stuff, but I need to call in at work.

‘Look, if I give you a key, do you think you can get this done in a morning? I’m willing to pay.’

He gets up and looks around again.

‘I can get it done in a day. It’ll need two of us but no need to pay. It’s our jobs. OK to put any crap in the skip?’

It kicks in. My fear. The fear of having nothing, being in an empty house creeps up and batters me over the head. I’m looking at the skip and looking at the stuff and the tears come. I’m suddenly sobbing and Lee holds me to his chest and pats me lightly on the back.

‘It’s OK,’ he says. It’s soothing. ‘I’ve seen it before. People having a big clear-out and they don’t want to part with it. It’s part of them.’ He holds me in front of him, hands on my arms. ‘But, you know, it’s just stuff. If you’re not strong enough today, we can do it another day.’

I wipe my eyes and shake my head.

‘No. It has to be today. It’s good of you to do it so quickly.’

He laughs again.

‘To be honest, we don’t get an opportunity like this very often. The local domestic violence unit would love some of this stuff. Always looking for white goods.’

I repeat his words.

‘Domestic violence.’

After everything I’ve been through it’s a relief for someone to just say it. It’s like I’ve been avoiding it for so long and now it’s out in the open. Lee takes my statement as a question, and I suppose it is, really.