Saying her name must have summoned her; she arrived in the hallway, already shrugging her cardigan back on. ‘Cora was here, now she’s going.’ She flashed Monty a sympathetic smile; it somehow said: Sorry your friend’s an arsehole. ‘Monty, always a pleasure.’

‘Likewise, madam, likewise.’

There was red creeping up his cheeks that made me think things weren’t quite as okay as he’d said. Still, he held himself together and stepped aside for Cora, who wandered down the corridor humming Sigrid on her way. Minutes ago her relief had been contagious. But now …

‘Can I get you a drink?’ I asked, leading him into the kitchen. ‘Tea?’

‘Milky, one sugar,’ he said, and then rushed to add, ‘but only if you’re having one.’

I filled the kettle in quiet and flicked it on to boil. ‘Can’t have a serious talk without tea.’ When he didn’t say anything to contradict my assumption, I realised I’d be needing a strong tea myself – maybe even a black coffee. I rubbed hard at my forehead and then set about finding cups, grabbing a spoon, pulling milk from the fridge. ‘What’s he done?’ I turned to face Monty, then, because we couldn’t avoid it any longer. I couldn’t hurry the water along.

‘I really don’t know what I’m doing here, Edi.’ His voice broke halfway through the comment, and I worried for a second that a tear or two was about to loosen. Christ, how bad things must be … ‘I’m worried about him. How much he’s drinking, how much he seems to be abusing this …’ He hesitated. ‘This situation. He’s like a virgin on death row.’

I laughed, but then a wave of sadness hit straight after. ‘I see.’ The kettle whistled to a boil behind me and I was glad of the call. ‘He and I aren’t seeing each other much.’

There was such a long pause that I was about to turn around and check Monty hadn’t passed out from panic. But as milk collided with tea, I heard him faintly repeat, ‘I see.’ I wondered what Rowan had been telling them all. Monty’s delay made me wonder whether we were all hearing the same stories – or whether Rowan and I were now on a six-month-to-forever-long hall pass at the never-end of which we’d ride off into the sunset in a carriage pulled by unicorns. I smirked. But maybe even Rowan has a limit when it comes to lies, I thought as I set a cup in front of my guest. ‘Thank you.’ He wrapped his hands around it. ‘This is really hard because I don’t know how much you know.’

‘It’s fine.’ I took a seat opposite him. ‘I know how much I know, but I don’t know how much of what I know is the truth.’ I half-laughed. ‘Does that make sense?’

He nodded. ‘I think so.’