‘Really?’ He meets my eyes … and I can see he’s asking me a bigger question. The same question he was asking me before. It seems so long ago, now.

‘Really.’ I nod. ‘It’s … it’s over.’

‘OK then.’ His eyes soften. ‘OK.’ He takes my hand, and slowly we start to walk back down the empty red carpet.

TWENTY-THREE

They talk about rose-tinted spectacles. Well, I think I’ve had red-carpet-tinted spectacles. I mean, this red carpet is actually quite tatty, now it’s empty of celebrities. As Luke and I walk along, hand in hand, there are cameras still banked along the barriers, but we have the carpet to ourselves. It reminds me of strolling along the Walk of Fame, weeks ago, when we were new to LA and it was a big adventure ahead of us. I can’t believe how much has happened since then.

‘I need to build bridges with my mother,’ says Luke.

‘Yes, you do.’ I nod. ‘And you will. It’ll be wonderful. Luke, you should see your mum with Minnie. They’re amazing! They’re actually very similar.’

‘I can imagine.’ He shoots me a wry smile, and I have a sudden vision of sitting with Luke and Elinor and Minnie, a happy family around the tea table. It’ll happen, I tell myself. Soon. Everything will change.

‘Buy her a jigsaw,’ I suggest. ‘She loves jigsaws.’

‘OK.’ Luke smiles. ‘I’ll do that. Or maybe I should buy her a hundred. I have a lot to put right.’

‘Oh God, so do I.’ I wince, as all my troubles flood back into my brain. Suze … Tarquin … My dad … ‘I had this big row with Suze.’ I wring his hand. ‘It was awful. She’s really angry with me—’

‘Becky.’ He cuts me off gently. ‘Listen. I have to tell you something. Suze is here.’

‘What?’ I turn my head, puzzled. ‘What do you mean? Where?’

‘I left the car a few streets away. She’s parked there right now. She wants to drive into the desert after your father and she wants you to come too.’

‘What?’ I stare at him. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Absolutely. When I told her where I was going, she begged to come along with me. If I didn’t succeed, she was going to come and drag you out of the premiere herself.’

‘But …’ I can’t process this. ‘Into the desert?’

Luke sighs. ‘Suzie is in a real state. We think your father and Tarquin are heading to Las Vegas. Suze is worried about Tarquin, and, to be fair, I think she has good reason to be.’

‘Right.’ My head is spinning. ‘So … where are the children?’

‘Mitchell is babysitting right now. Obviously we’ll have to decide what the best plan is. We need to get home, work out what we know, put together a route … And you need to think hard, Becky. I mean, he’s your father. If anyone can figure out where he’s gone …’

‘I’ve got that old map of my dad’s.’ My mind starts to whir. ‘We might be able to work out something from that, maybe?’