“Bex!” I turn to see Suze looking out the back door of the diner. “The food’s here—” She breaks off, and her eyes run along the row of five baskets. “Oh, that’s typical. You’ve been shopping. What else would you be doing?”

She sounds so censorious, I feel the color flood into my cheeks. But I just stare back silently. There’s no point saying anything. Suze is determined to find fault, whatever I do. She disappears back into the diner, and I breathe out.

“Come on, Minnie,” I say, trying to sound lighthearted. “We’d better get some breakfast. And you can even have a milkshake.”

“Milkshake!” exclaims Minnie joyfully. “From a cow,” she tells me. “A chocolate cow?”

“No, it’s a strawberry cow today,” I tell her, tickling her under the chin.

OK. So I know we’re going to have to put Minnie straight about cows one day, but I can’t bear to just yet. It’s so sweet. She honestly thinks there are chocolate cows and vanilla cows and strawberry cows.

“It’s a very yummy strawberry cow,” comes Luke’s voice, and I look up to see him coming out of the diner. “Food’s ready.” He winks at me.

“Thanks. We’re coming.”

“Swing time?” asks Minnie, screwing up her face in hope, and Luke laughs.

“Come on then, sausage.”

For a few minutes we walk around, swinging Minnie between our arms.

“How’s tricks?” Luke asks me over Minnie’s head. “You’ve been pretty quiet in the RV.”

“Oh,” I say, disconcerted that he’s even noticed. “Well, I’ve just been, you know. Thinking.”

This isn’t quite true. I’m quiet because I don’t have anyone to talk to. Suze and Alicia are in their little twosome; Mum and Janice are in their little twosome. All I have is Minnie, and she’s been glued to Enchanted on the iPad.

I mean, I’ve tried. As we left L.A., I sat down with Suze and made to give her a hug, but she went all stiff and cut me dead. I felt so stupid, I scuttled back to my seat and pretended to be interested in the landscape.

But I won’t go into any of that right now. I’m not going to burden Luke with my problems. He’s been such a star—the least I can do is refrain from dumping my stupid worries on him. I’ll be dignified and discreet, as a wife should be. “Thank you for coming,” I add. “Thank you for doing this. I know you’re really busy.”

“I wasn’t about to let you drive off into the desert with Suze on your own.” He gives a short laugh.

It was Suze’s idea to rush off to Vegas—she and Alicia were both convinced they’d soon track down Bryce. But they haven’t yet, and here we are, halfway there, without a hotel reservation or a plan or anything….

I mean, believe me, I’m all for rushing off to places. But even I can see this is all a bit crazy. Except I don’t want to be the one to say that, or I’ll get my head bitten off by Suze. At the thought of Suze, I feel a fresh wave of distress, and suddenly I can’t bottle it up any longer. I’ll have to be dignified and discreet another time.