Daniel left. He cried as Romy embraced his slim figure and she found her heart breaking for him and his family – what a nightmare they all faced back in Switzerland. His quiet presence had been such a comfort to her in the last weeks. She didn’t know how she would have coped without him. Didn’t know how she would cope now.

Obviously she would find another carer. But whoever it was would need overseeing at first, to make sure they were settling in, that they were a good fit with Michael. And it would take a while for her to be able to trust them as she had Daniel. Nor could she rely on Michael not to be rude to them – intentionally or otherwise – even dismiss them out of hand.

As she poured the oats for Michael’s porridge into a pan on Saturday morning – measuring the milk and stirring it in, turning the heat low – Romy was aware of a dull, throbbing resentment. She still hadn’t confronted her husband about Grace. The whole week had been taken up with the doctor, with Michael’s distressing anxiety, made worse by the fact of Daniel’s departure.

Later, Michael sat opposite her at the table, his porridge bowl empty, his good hand clutched around his coffee mug. Now Daniel was gone, Romy insisted he eat all his meals at the table. He’d got used to being brought food in the bedroom or having it on his knee in the sitting room, when he was perfectly capable of walking – albeit painfully slowly – through to the kitchen. Daniel had too kind a heart.

‘I talked to Blake earlier,’ Romy said. ‘He sent his best.’ Her brother always rang, like Rex, around seven in the morning.

‘How is he?’

‘Same old, same old.’ She smiled. ‘I think he likes having Rex around, but he seems to think our son isn’t exactly a grafter.’

Michael grinned back. ‘Tell us something we don’t know.’ His face clouded slightly. ‘Rex … I feel since the stroke … so disconnected from him, from everybody, Romy. I used to think I was such a player. But life seems to be going on out there quite happily without me.’

It was on the tip of her tongue to trot out the usual platitudes: it’ll be fine, this won’t last, you’ll be on your feet in no time. But she realized that, to a degree, she was feeling the same.

The flat seemed to be closing in on them both, cutting them off from the outside world. Daniel was gone. Leo phoned every couple of days and visited at weekends, but was always busy. Blake and Rex were too far away to help. The visitors who had dropped by at first with gifts and encouragement obviously thought they’d done their bit, because they had not reappeared – except faithful Wendy, who still arrived dutifully at four most Sunday afternoons with something delicious for tea.