Adam insisted on escorting us back to the hotel, despite my best efforts to put him off.

“Honestly, Adam, we’re fine...aren’t we, Norman? It’s not that far and, actually, we’re...um, in a bit of a rush because we...we’ve got to...you know, our bags and...”

But even as I was speaking he and Norman were already on the move through the coffee shop, clearing a path as they went. I brought up the rear as Norman stepped forward to hold open the door for Adam and his mobility scooter to trundle through, apologizing along the way to a woman who nearly lost her Waitrose shopping under the wheels. It was a strange turn up for the books, and no mistake. It was almost like...was it possible Norman actually liked this guy? As I mulled over that highly unexpected possibility I allowed myself to get caught up in the slipstream of Adam’s considerable wake, stepping over the bodies along the way.

When we arrived back at the Premier Inn I could see through the glass frontage that Leonard was already waiting in the foyer, sunken into one of the chairs with all our bags at his feet. There went that excuse. He was turning his iPhone around and around in his hands with a distracted expression like he couldn’t decide whether or not to make a call.

I stepped into the automatic revolving doors just ahead of Norman, with Adam bringing up the rear. Out of nowhere, I got a sudden heart-dropping flashback to a rainy afternoon in Truro, pushing through the same kind of doors at Barclays bank when I’d taken Jax and Norman to open their Five-Year Plan account. But before I could get to the funny bit where Jax had announced to the teller that yes, Five Year was his first name and Plan was his last, there was a commotion behind me as Adam’s scooter wedged itself firmly in the doors, trapping not just him but also three tiny Japanese girls trying to exit the other side.

Leonard’s head shot up like he’d never seen an oversize man in a mobility scooter wedged in a door before, and Norman immediately tried to double back to help, but he was already too far out the other side. He began tapping and pointing and making hand gestures through the curved glass while Adam wrenched at the controls on the scooter, causing it to alternately reverse and hop forward.

I saw Leonard take in the scene, from Norman tapping on the glass to Adam swearing his head off to anyone who was listening and me standing back, trying to melt into the floor. I watched as his gaze slowly moved from one to the other and then even more slowly over to me. I think I clocked the exact point he realized who Adam was, and his eyebrows levitated so high they threatened to disappear into his neatly combed hair. But he didn’t say a word. There was really no need.