I stop to take it all in: about fifty mattresses cover the floor, with sleeping-bags, blankets, colourful clothes. I see a banjo and several teddy bears. A small dog sleeps in a corner nestled next to a woman reading.

Melody finds her mattress and pulls some sweatpants and a few layers of tops and jumpers from her bag.

‘Where did you get this?’ She points to my beanie.

‘The truck driver,’ I say.

She furrows her brow, waiting for more.

‘I kinda … Hitchhiked.’

‘You didn’t.’

I nod.

‘Sky, I thought you’d just taken a bus. That was more than dangerous enough by yourself, in the middle of winter. I mean, it was mad what you did, running off. I know you were upset, but you’re old enough to know better now, to try and think before you act. But hitchhiking, that’s a new level, even for you. I can’t believe you did that.’

‘I’m really sorry,’ I say. It’s true; spirited or not, I know I went over the top. ‘The truck driver ended up being a nice guy, if that makes you feel better. Maybe we’ll keep in touch.’ I try to laugh.

Melody shakes her head and hugs me again. ‘It’s okay, just never do it again, please? You must have been scared, all alone.’

‘Yeah, I was.’ I relax my head on her shoulder, my face in her spirals of jasmine-infused red hair. For weeks I’ve held on to resentment about her secret one-night stand with my father. Betraying my mother and me. But it doesn’t seem so important now.

Melody gathers shower supplies and a towel, and leads me down a windy, snowy path to a series of tiny tents. Each one is a shower. Inside, there’s a small plastic chair, wooden platform, hooks for clothes, and a bucket hanging above with a pulley system to fill it with hot water from a small tap.

After Melody leaves, I turn on my phone and it starts beeping with messages.

Lucy’s heard from Oliver that I’ve disappeared and she’s freaking out.

I quickly message back telling her I’m okay, everything’s totally fine, I’ll tell her all about it another time, and I insist she tell me if she saw Malcolm.

She replies immediately: I did, it was good, but weird.

What happened?

So, we were standing and talking in the line for the toilets.

Romantic.

I know. She sends a laughing face and continues. It was really easy to chat to him, he was asking me all about the bird sanctuary and seemed genuinely interested. Well, he didn’t roll his eyes like most people.

And? I ask.