‘Whoa,’ she muttered again.

She stood up as quietly as she could and tiptoed across the hall to the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet before throwing up.

Afterwards she flushed the toilet and then washed her face with cold water from the tap. When she looked at her face, she looked ghostly with dark circles under her eyes and paler than a hermit crab’s belly.

‘No one should look this bad after a wonderful night,’ she said to her reflection.

She brushed her teeth before returning to the bedroom. Jack still slept. He was smiling in his sleep, which made her smile too.

Instead of waking him up, she walked downstairs and put on the coffee machine. Frikk lifted his head and wagged his tail. He slowly got out of bed and came over to her.

Ninni sat down and took his face between her hands. She checked his eyes. ‘You’re all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, aren’t you? You’re lucky you don’t drink, my boy.’

Luckily there was a pack of paracetamol in the kitchen drawer. She popped a couple in her mouth and swallowed them with some water from the tap.

From the kitchen window she could see that it was early morning. No rush then.

There was nothing left of Jack’s lovely bread. He’d turned out to be a brilliant baker too, she thought, and broke off a piece of the normal wholegrain bread. It took away the bitterness from the paracetamol and settled her stomach.

She considered making breakfast. What did someone like Jack eat in the morning? There was no way she was cooking him an English breakfast with eggs and beans and whatnot. If that what he wanted, he would have to cook it himself. The idea made her head spin again. Better not, she thought.

She sighed with relief when the coffee machine gurgled a few times, then stopped. A cup of coffee would make her feel as right as rain.

It did. That first sip of morning coffee made life seem manageable. She drank one cup, then another, and finished the dry piece of bread. By the time Jack came down she was on her third cup.

He leaned against the doorpost and folded his arms. He was smiling. Ninni’s stomach did another jolt, but this time of pleasure. ‘Good morning.’

‘Good morning to you too. I missed you when I woke up.’ He came into the room and held out his hand. Ninni let him pull her up.

‘You will learn soon enough that I’m not a morning person. I need coffee to be cute.’

Jack brushed her hair away from her face. ‘I think you’d look cute no matter what,’ he said.

‘Not with a hangover, I don’t. How much did we drink last night?’

Jack’s hands did something interesting to her back. Ninni leaned into him.

‘I don’t think a few bottles of beer gives much of a hangover. Perhaps it’s because of sleep deprivation.’

He kissed her and Ninni could feel her knees weaken. Oh, my God, she thought. I’m so done for.