‘Yep,’ he says, clearing his throat. ‘We should. She’s been really busy with work but she’s dying to meet you. The divorce hit her pretty hard, which is why she threw herself into work. Coming home to an empty house must be tough for her. I never want to end up like that. Having you here, seeing your face next to me at the table, it’s everything to me. I realized the other day when I was watching you sleeping that you’re my family now.’

I smile. I feel the same way. Connor is my family and the next step should be to find somewhere we can grow.

Ever since I viewed the garden flat, my need to find a home has taken on more urgency. Connor doesn’t understand this urge and constantly tells me that the rented flat we’re living in is good enough for now and that we should concentrate on working hard to build up a solid deposit. I’d brought up the subject of the money my mother had left me again and he’d snapped at me and told me that he would not be using someone else’s money and that was the end of it.

But it’s not the end of it as far as I’m concerned, not by a long shot. I realize that I have wasted a huge chunk of my life just coasting along. Now that doesn’t feel good enough. I think about Anne with her beautiful house in Muswell Hill, which she opens up for staff parties and get-togethers. That house is a solid symbol of all the hard work she has poured into her career. I want to have that too and I don’t think it’s a crime to go after what you want.

Since the viewing I have signed up for every property website I can find, entering my details, my budget, my search radius, what kind of property I’m looking for, etc. I’ve also become addicted to the interior design pages on Instagram and have started to follow hashtags such as #periodproperty #mydreamhouse #cosyhome #vintageterrace. Each page takes me further and further into a dream world but, unlike a story, these worlds are attainable.

Later that evening, when Connor is washing up the dishes, I sit, glass of wine in hand, and click on to Instagram. One of the hashtags leads me to a page called Dream Properties. Most of the ‘dream properties’ are in the million-pound-plus bracket. Still, it is nice to dream.