‘Come to mine for some lunch,’ Ralph had said as they emerged from the mediation, lightly placing a hand on Lucas’s slumped shoulders. Lucas, too stunned to make decisions beyond the placing of one foot in front of the other, and having to do that carefully, because of his poorly leg, had growled a thank you. ‘Good news that you are up to cycling. We can travel in convoy,’ Ralph had added, shortening his stride to match Lucas’s as they progressed towards the college bike stands.

Launched along the street, it had helped having Ralph’s back wheel to follow. Light changes, crossing pedestrians, parked cars, where and when to make a turn, Lucas had imitated each move, leaving the fog in his head alone. A Monday lunch at Ralph’s. He had pictured an empty house, slices of bread, some cheese, perhaps a drink. Instead, entering the house had been like stepping onto a whirling carousel: bouncing children, the bright, steamy kitchen; Catherine, drying her hands on a tea towel and shaking her long fringe out of her dusky green eyes before greeting him, her pale face cool as it brushed against his hot cheek.

‘Help yourself, Lucas,’ she said now, nudging the jugs nearer. ‘And yes, Zac, before you ask, do fetch the ice cream, but it will be one scoop not three, all of you, so be warned,’ she called as the ten-year-old scrambled out of his chair and disappeared through the door.

‘Only Daddy can have two scoops,’ Ralph declared in a mock bellowing voice, making his wild eyebrows dance and patting his belly, ‘because Daddy is a monster with a monster appetite.’

The two younger children shrieked delighted retorts and tellings-off, while Catherine threw him a look of despairing affection.

‘Is Daddy’s friend a monster too?’ piped up Phoebe, the smallest, slamming her hand against her mouth to contain gasps at her own audacity.

‘Of course,’ Ralph cried, rescuing Lucas from what felt like the impossible necessity of producing an apt response. Was he a monster? Moira thought so. Moira, so tortured and timid, who had nonetheless somehow managed to detonate a bomb under the foundations of his life. ‘That’s why Lucas is Daddy’s friend,’ Ralph riffed on. ‘Us monsters stick together.’

‘Ralph, really, they need calming down not stirring up,’ Catherine scolded mildly, offering Lucas an apologetic smile and then taking charge of the ice cream as Zac skidded back into the dining room wielding the tub between both hands as if preparing to drop-kick a rugby ball.