‘Closure?’ I say, taking a beat or two to realize what she means. I hate these new-agey therapy-speak words. ‘Yes. I guess so. Though I will still have to arrange a funeral. I haven’t decided what to do about that. I haven’t really arranged one before.’ By ‘haven’t really’, I mean haven’t ever. Mum arranged Dad’s funeral, and bar a few emails and calls, I left the same funeral house and the family solicitor to arrange Mum’s a couple of years later. I simply turned up on the day. It might sound callous, but these people are dead, they’re just bodies. They don’t care what their casket is like or which flowers people choose. It’s all a giant fuss and waste of money as far as I can see.

Will’s funeral, though, was something which was brought up at the hospital. It was couched in the nicest possible terms via Didier’s translation, but the upshot was that Will couldn’t stay in the hospital morgue forever and I needed to let them know as soon as possible what I wanted to have done with the body.

‘Oh?’ Millie prompts. ‘Will you not want to, um, take him home to your family so they can, ah, say a proper goodbye?’

I spoon a few pieces of fresh fruit onto a plate and sit down on one of the lovely plush sofas. ‘There’s no family, only me,’ I explain. ‘My parents died some time ago. And I don’t have a base as such. I’ve been travelling for a long time and now I’m mainly in Thailand. But Will had never even been to Thailand, so it would be weird to take him there.’ Poor Will. So many things he never had the chance to do.

Millie nods. ‘I see. I hope I’m not speaking out of line, but in that case perhaps I wonder if you might like to have him cremated and his ashes scattered here?’ There is a pause. ‘As I understand it, from what you’ve said, he was happy here during your last holiday together – perhaps it would be somehow appropriate, if there’s no particular home for you as such.’ She pauses. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. Obviously, the funeral details have to be your decision and I shouldn’t even be expressing an opinion about something like this.’

I see her blush as she starts fussing with the already perfectly arranged tea tray.