‘Bye Beth. Bye Tommy,’ he says, waving at my baby, whose sweet eyes have opened, taking it all in.

‘See you around.’

He shuts the front door.

13

Ruby

As a rule, I would never answer my phone to an unknown number, but after the fifth or sixth call I picked it up. I wondered if my mother had finally done it.

To my surprise, it was Lauren Pearce. She got my number from Rebecca. She asked if she could come to see me. I said yes, of course, albeit slightly nervously. I’m not really looking to be anyone’s support system right now, not when I am hoping to improve so many aspects of my own life. Nonetheless, I said that she could ‘pop round’. I have vacuumed the floors and boiled the kettle. She arrives exactly on time at eleven a.m.

‘Hello,’ I say, as I open the door. She looks pale, and gaunt. She is wearing a big cardigan and her arms are wrapped around herself as if she is cold, despite it being quite warm outside. I let her in immediately.

‘I don’t think anyone followed me,’ she says, like she is on the run. ‘I snuck out the back of my dad’s house and called an Uber from down the street. There are paps everywhere, but no one saw me.’

‘I’m sure that can’t be easy. Can I make you a drink, the kettle’s just boiled?’

‘Just water, please.’

The house feels very silent when I go into the kitchen to get the drinks. It’s quite bizarre having a celebrity in the living room. Especially when the world outside is looking for her.

‘Please, take a seat,’ I say, coming back in.

‘Thanks. Your place is lovely. You’ve got great style,’ she says, looking around at the many things I have gathered over the years, to make my cave a place where I am happy to stay.

‘Thanks, I am very proud of my home.’ I don’t have many guests. It’s quite nice to have my good taste acknowledged.

‘I wanted to say thank you. For what you did for me that day. For talking to me, and … and for exposing yourself to me the way you did. I’m sure that wasn’t easy.’

‘No, it wasn’t,’ I say, fighting my learned behaviour of shutting down a conversation that makes me feel self-conscious. She saw my body. There is no need to push her away now. I saved her life. At least in this situation I should allow my accomplishment to eclipse my humiliation.

‘Well, you can add saving someone’s life to the list of things you do well. I mean it, thank you. I was a mess that day. I wasn’t thinking clearly.’

‘Or maybe you were,’ I say, controversially.

‘What?’