He gives me a resigned look. ‘Yeah, well, I just thought I’d say, that’s all.’

Izzy appears, clutching the ‘things to pack’ list she was given at the last Brownie meeting. She has insisted on doing it herself, although obviously I’ll check everything before she heads off this afternoon (I’m aware that we are cutting it fine, and that the other Brownies were probably all packed and ready a week ago). ‘It says don’t forget to pack a toy,’ she announces. ‘Shall I take Woolly?’ Her knitted sandwich, she means.

‘I think you should,’ I say.

‘Will anyone laugh?’

‘Of course not,’ I exclaim. ‘Why on earth would they?’

She grins. ‘I think Woolly will like camping more than Dad did.’

‘Hey, I loved it!’ Andy protests.

‘You said you got no sleep, Dad,’ she reminds him. ‘You hurt your back. You got that … thing, the thing that made you shout at Mum.’

‘Sciatica,’ I say, helpfully.

‘Yeah, but I enjoyed the experience,’ he says, pulling on his jacket now, ‘and I’m sure I didn’t shout. I loved the nature aspect, being outdoors, cooking on the little stove …’ He was a little less keen on washing up at the communal sink block – being chronically injured from having slept on a blow-up bed – but I decide not to remind him of that.

‘I wish we could go camping again,’ Izzy adds, giving her father and me a wistful look.

‘You are,’ I say quickly, deliberately misunderstanding. ‘You’re going today.’

‘I mean with you and Dad.’

Andy catches my gaze. ‘You’ll have great fun with the Brownies, honey,’ he says quickly. ‘You don’t want your parents wrecking your fun.’

‘You never wrecked my fun, Dad.’ She knows he’s joking, but is pretending not to.

‘Hey, Dad’s about to go,’ I say. ‘You’d better finish your packing, darling.’ She hugs her father goodbye and tramps back upstairs.

I exhale slowly as I see Andy to the front door. ‘Thanks for coming over and helping with that.’

He shrugs. ‘Like I said, it’s no problem.’

‘Well, it’s appreciated.’

He nods and looks at me. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, I’m good. It just felt a bit weird there, Izzy mentioning our camping trips …’

‘Yes, it did a bit.’ His voice catches. ‘Our last one was, what, about three years ago?’

‘That’s probably right. I’m surprised she remembers.’ I pause. ‘D’you think she’s doing okay?’

‘I hope so,’ he says. ‘She seems happy, and we always have a nice time together. And she’s pretty excited about this trip.’