‘Al.’ Rav turns, leaving the sauce-covered spoon on the worktop but he doesn’t move towards me. ‘I thought I was going to have to wake you up.’

‘You came home early.’ I wasn’t expecting him, so to see him cooking and drinking wine with Naomi feels strange. As if she is his wife, and I am just a visitor.

‘Naomi told me you fell down the stairs?’

‘Just slipped off the bottom steps,’ I say, unsure as to how much Naomi has told him. ‘Nothing too dramatic. It’s just a bit sore, that’s all.’

‘Well, you should probably stay off it,’ Rav says, looking down at the neat white bandage. ‘Come and sit down.’

‘Easier said than done, eh?’ Naomi gives a bright laugh before she turns her eyes to me, her cheeks flushed from the wine. ‘Are you feeling better?’ A seemingly innocent question, but to me it feels loaded with meaning.

‘Much better. All I needed was a nap,’ I say brightly. ‘I should get Mina and the baby ready for bed. Rav, you should have woken me.’ I look about the kitchen, as if the children will magically appear. ‘Where are they?’

‘Naomi got Mina up to bed while I bathed the baby. They’re all sorted. All you need to do is relax and rest that ankle.’

‘Oh … right.’ I feel disconcerted, a little off balance. My gaze goes to the open wine on the worktop. It’s a bottle Rav’s work bought us when the baby was born, one that I thought we were saving for a special occasion.

‘Well, you two lovebirds, I had better be off.’ Naomi drains the rest of her wine in one mouthful, snatching up her cardigan from the back of the chair.

‘You don’t have to, does she, Al?’ Rav says, picking up the wooden spoon again. ‘I’ve made loads, we’ll be eating it all week otherwise.’

‘Was I asleep for long?’ My mind whirrs slowly, trying to catch up.

‘Only a couple of hours or so,’ Naomi says. ‘Don’t worry, I sorted Leo out, and I gave Mina one of those little pizzas in the oven for her tea. Not that she wanted much of it.’

‘It was the snack,’ I say, frowning. ‘She doesn’t usually have anything that big in the afternoon.’ My tongue feels a little too big for my mouth, my throat dry.

‘I’ll let you guys have your dinner in peace.’ Naomi shrugs on her cardigan, picks up her bag and moves to the doorway.

‘Are you sure you won’t stay?’ Rav asks, and my heart sinks. I don’t want her to stay for dinner, don’t want her to mention to Rav about the bones. Naomi glances towards me and seems to read my face.