I took in the suitcase on the hall floor, the keys Rohan had put on the side table, and the pile of unopened post he had kicked away. Rohan moved to the bottom of the stairs, his eyes glued to me the whole time.

‘How are you?’

‘Fine.’

I walked down towards him, still dazed, still not quite part of the real world, still tired, in need of sleep. Rohan scooped me in his arms and squeezed me to him, breathing deeply with his face in my hair, then he kissed me long and hard on the mouth.

‘I missed you, gorgeous wife,’ he said as he pulled away and, in his beard, I picked up the scent of outside, of aircraft, of travel, of New York. His breath smelled stale but I imagined mine wasn’t great either. I breathed into the palm of my hand and my nostrils flared.

‘I missed you too. I’m sorry, I didn’t hear the door,’ I said. ‘I was…’ I pointed vaguely up.

‘No problem. I have a key.’ Rohan was laughing at me, but he held me by my shoulders and stared into my face. He touched the earring I wore in my right ear without comment, then traced my cheekbone with his thumb.

‘You look tired,’ he said. ‘And you’ve lost weight. I can see it in your face.’ His hand slid down my body, hesitating on my rib cage, then over my waist and hips, then he squeezed my bum playfully. ‘You have.’

I shrugged. ‘Maybe. I haven’t weighed myself. Anyway, look, I was about to make some coffee…’

‘I could murder a coffee. Let’s go,’ he said but, at the kitchen door, he stopped, and I walked straight into the back of him. He turned around. ‘What’s going on?’ he said. ‘What happened?’

I pushed past, my mind on the coffee. ‘What do you mean, “what’s going on?” Nothing “happened”.’ I got the coffee jug from the machine, moved some dishes to one side so I could rinse it out in the sink, and prepared to set it up for two.

‘But, Abs. The mess.’ He went over to the bin and wrinkled his nose. ‘Don’t you clear up after yourself? And where’s Grace? Is she still staying?’

‘She’s gone to see some friends this weekend to give us some space.’ I smiled, aiming for ‘beguiling’.

Rohan grimaced. ‘Oh, shame. I was hoping to meet her.’ He looked around. ‘Anyway, doesn’t she do any housework either? It looks like a bomb went off in here.’

‘Sorry, sorry,’ I said, quickly gathering dishes and moving them to the counter near the sink. I bent under the sink and took out the surface spray and sprayed it on the counters, then found a cloth, wet it and started wiping. ‘I’ll sort it out. You unpack, and when you come back down it’ll be good as new.’