Whilst he starts running the taps, I turn and catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror above the sink. I startle, as I often do when I catch sight of myself unexpectedly these days, because it’s like a stranger has appeared out of nowhere and is staring at me with a look of shock on their face. I’m so thin. I really need to start eating again. Hopefully all the fresh air will help rouse my appetite.

I head into the bedroom to unpack, folding my clothes neatly into the drawers of the dresser, leaving the top one clear for Liam. I can’t help but imagine what it would be like to live here. We keep talking about buying together, although Liam moved in with me a while ago. It made sense, as I have a two-bedroom terrace house and he was living in a flat-share with a colleague. He’s been saving up for years to put down a deposit on his own place and now that I have a little inheritance from my mother, we’ve been talking about pooling our money and buying somewhere bigger.

By the time I head back into the bathroom I find Liam has emptied half a bottle of Molton Brown bubble bath into the bathtub and it’s almost overflowing. He grins like a kid and I laugh.

‘Go on, get in,’ he says.

I undress slowly, aware of Liam watching. I feel self-conscious about my body, always have, but I know how much he enjoys looking at me. And even though I’ve lost some weight, he’s always telling me that I’m gorgeous and paying me compliments. At first, I found it hard to hear and didn’t believe him, because no one had ever paid me that much attention before, or treated me the way he did – and even now, eight months later, I still haven’t quite got used to it.

I grew up with a father who was always calling my mother names and yelling abuse at me, too, telling me I was a lazy, fat cow. And before Liam, I dated a couple of guys, one at school and one just last year, both of whom ended up being as awful as my dad, though at the time of course I couldn’t see it; I was just flattered that somebody was interested in me. I cringe when I think about it now – how pathetic I was, how needy, and how willing I was to put the needs of undeserving people before my own.