I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Well, that’s fine then, isn’t it? If we can grab a hot drink then I’ll get the room sorted.’

‘Fine,’ Mum frowned. ‘As long as you’re happy to share a double. I didn’t want to presume.’

I felt a wave of embarrassment, quickly followed by an even warmer wave of something else at the thought of Daniel and I spending the night curled up in bed together.

‘No! We won’t be sharing a room.’ I turned to Daniel and pulled my most apologetic face. He raised his eyebrows, the smile dancing at the corners of his mouth shooting my temperature even higher. ‘Daniel is my landlord. I work for him, helping with childcare and housekeeping.’ Keep reminding yourself of that, Eleanor.

‘It’s fine, Eleanor. We’ve become very open-minded in recent years in order to maintain our customer base. We don’t ask those types of questions any more.’

‘I should hope not! However, it won’t be an issue because, as I’ve just said, we need separate rooms.’

‘But we’ve only got one room!’

‘Well, I presume you’ve not rented out my old top bunk to a Weighbridge Walker. I know they love it here, but even our regulars have to draw the line at Grandma’s snoring.’

Mum looked shifty again. ‘I haven’t rented out your old bed, no.’

‘Well, that’s fine then, isn’t it?’

‘But we did move it into the Osprey room to create a second family suite. Your Grandma has a plain single now.’

‘Okay. Fine.’ It was, it was totally fine that I’d come home for the first time in nearly a year and there was no room at the inn. ‘I’ll grab a blanket and find myself a sofa.’

She folded her arms. ‘You can’t do that! It’s against Tufted Duck policy. All guests must vacate the communal rooms by 11 p.m. No sleeping outside of assigned bedrooms.’

‘I’m not a guest!’

She shook her head, jaw set. ‘No sleeping outside of assigned rooms. Not even for family. Not even for Charlie’s family.’ Her voice cracked, and she sniffed sharply.

I closed my eyes, tried not to picture me and Daniel sharing a bed, counted to about two and then opened them again. ‘Okay. I’ll ensure I remain within the policy. Please go back to bed, Mum, we’ll sort something out.’

She harrumphed and left us to it.

‘I’d be happy to sleep—’ Daniel started.

‘Don’t!’ I held up one hand in protest. ‘Please, don’t let’s talk about it until we’ve had a drink and something warm and fattening to eat first.’

Two mugs of hot chocolate and reheated slices of blackberry and apple pie later, we went upstairs to find that my parents had made up the Mallard bed and assembled a travel cot that took up most of the floor space.

‘I’m so sorry about this,’ I said, resisting the urge to bury my face in a frilly cushion. ‘My parents live in their own world and sometimes I forget how bizarre it is compared to the rest of us.’