Lou goes to bed at about six o’clock, right before Danny does his disappearing act, which pretty much sums up the guy’s attitude to the whole shebang as far as I can tell. Gentleman and I are the only ones that notice him sneaking out of the front door when he thinks nobody’s looking, and that dog looks so disappointed I almost forget he’s leaving us as well.

Come dinnertime, your girl’s tucked up at the kitchen table eating pesto pasta with George and Dom and representing on my own. Only it doesn’t feel like I thought it would, sitting in a strange house eating a very nice dinner with a couple of people I hardly know. It feels relaxed and easy, almost like something you’d do for kicks. Dom doesn’t mention anything about Danny going AWOL, but after the dishes are done and I excuse myself to go up to my room, I see him dish up a plate of leftover food and put it in the fridge with some tin foil over the top.

I’m still thinking about my uncle when there’s a soft knock on my door. My voice doesn’t make it past my mouth the first time, and I have to swallow down and try again.

‘Hello? Come in?’

The door opens slightly and just for a second all I can see is a levitating blue mug, but then Dom appears behind it and it’s the second time I’ve wanted to laugh out loud since I got here. The first was when I saw what George had done to this bedroom. I could see how much effort he’d put into it, though, so I kept quiet and, I’m not going to lie – it’s actually quite nice to see Woody and Buzz and a couple of Mike Wazowskis again after so long.

‘Thought you might like a hot chocolate.’ Dom’s carrying two mugs and he puts one down on the bedside table. I see him flash a glance over at the chair in the corner of the room.

‘Thanks, Dom. That’s really . . . thanks.’ It’s a bit tricky to know the right way to invite someone to sit down in their own house, which is clearly what he wants to do. ‘Do you want to—?’

‘Oh, sure, if you don’t—?’

‘Well, it’s your chair.’ I’m trying to be funny, but straight away I worry it hasn’t landed and I might have offended him. Mierda.

‘Too right, I never thought of that!’ Dom laughs; I exhale.

I realise this is the first time we’ve been in a room without George, which has actually worked out well in terms of not having to talk about Lou too much. I mean, I guess her legs pretty much explain themselves, Dom being a doctor and all, but I can’t help wondering if he’d have been so keen to invite us into his happy home if he knew about those sofa holidays. I feel my chest start to contract. Tranquila, chica.