Ellen noticed that he was absent-mindedly massaging his left pectoral. She saw that Alexa had noticed this too.

A brief, slightly awkward pause had fallen, in which everyone looked elsewhere, and then smiled when they accidentally caught one another’s eyes. When Ellen caught Alexa’s, she tried to communicate something about Ben’s left pectoral, though she wasn’t certain what, and instead ended up sort of winking at her. Alexa frowned slightly. In the sunshine that came from the skylight, Ellen observed a covering of very fine hair on her legs. Alexa definitely hadn’t been expecting to see Ben last night.

‘This place is messier than my room,’ Jack offered, conversationally. ‘It’s weird, because I don’t even have that much stuff.’ He looked puzzled. ‘It just gets everywhere.’

‘So, is that the plan, then?’ Ellen asked, ignoring him. ‘Wait for half an hour and try shouting again?’

‘For now, yes.’ Alexa shrugged. ‘Let’s give it until 9 a.m. You wouldn’t ring someone’s doorbell before 9 a.m. on a Saturday.’

‘I would if it were an emergency,’ Ellen said, quickly.

‘Well, yelling didn’t work a minute ago, did it?’ Ben pointed out.

‘Let’s try in half an hour,’ Alexa said, diplomatically.

Ellen shrugged.

There was another silence, slightly less friendly in tone.

After a few minutes, Jack stood up. He stepped purposefully towards the wall of cardboard and started excavating a box. The rest of them watched him dumbly. After some rummaging he turned round, triumphant, holding a large cardboard box that he had managed to free.

‘Shall we play a game to pass the time?’ he asked, hopefully. He dropped the box in the middle of the clearing, sending a mushroom cloud of dust into the sky. After it settled, Ben, Alexa and Ellen leaned forward to look inside. It was packed with dusty board games. Monopoly, Cluedo, Settlers of Catan, Guess Who?, Snakes & Ladders, Risk. Ellen could not imagine Elias settling down with Cynthia to play a game of Guess Who? and shook her head. She wished her mind would stop drifting towards their tyrannical landlord.

‘Look, he’s got Risk!’ said Jack, with delight.

Even in normal circumstances, Ellen would have been unable to muster much enthusiasm at the idea of playing Risk. Annoyingly, Ben did not agree.

‘Great shout,’ he said, approvingly. He pulled the game out of the box and rubbed the dust off its surface with his forearm. Ellen noticed that when Ben smiled, it carved a comma-shaped dimple into his right cheek.

She knew, however, with some confidence, that Alexa found board games tedious. On cue, she wrinkled her nose, and Ben hesitated. He put the game on the floor in front of them.

Jack looked at it beseechingly. ‘Please?’ he said, after a minute.

Alexa’s expression softened slightly.