I think for a moment. ‘I’m embarrassed to say it,’ I say eventually.

Greta leans in closer. ‘Go on. I won’t tell anyone.’

I shrug. ‘I think I’d just like to be a wife. I want to get married and have three children and stay at home and cook beautiful meals.’

Greta laughs. ‘Who will you marry?’ she asks me. ‘Let me guess…’

I laugh too. ‘Maybe Max or Leo,’ I say. ‘Unless someone else asks me first.’

The truth is, I can barely picture Max and Leo any more. I still have the photograph of the three of us, packed tightly in a case with my clothes, but I rarely look at it nowadays and without it I can hardly even conjure up their faces in my mind.

I still think about them. I wonder if they’ve moved as many times as I have. I wonder if Leo is still safe in Vienna, if Max is happy in Munich, if they ever think about me.

I wonder if I will ever see either of them again.

And then my heart hurts and I have to change the subject. ‘What about you?’ I ask Greta. ‘What will you be?’

Greta talks in a whisper. ‘I’m going to be a resistance fighter,’ she says.

‘What’s one of those?’ I ask.

‘I’ve heard of young women who are joining the fight against Hitler. They run secret errands and no one suspects them because they’re only girls. What d’you think?’

What I think is that the thought terrifies me. I couldn’t bear for Greta to go off and do something so dangerous. I cannot lose the only friend I’ve got.

‘I think you’re the bravest person I’ve ever known,’ I say.

Greta hugs me, then feeds Felix the last few crumbs and picks him up for a cuddle. ‘And when we’ve won the war and sent Hitler packing, I shall marry one of your boys,’ she says. ‘And we will live in a big house in the country and have seven cats.’

I laugh as I watch her playing with Felix. These moments with Greta are everything. Her friendship makes me feel alive.

And that’s about as good a feeling as any of us have around here nowadays, so I know it’s something to treasure.

LEO

It was Saturday morning and I was awake early as I was meeting my friends at the park. I was scrabbling under my bed looking for my shoes when I heard Mama scream from downstairs.

‘Leo!’ she yelled. ‘Come quickly!’

Old habits still hadn’t left me. My heart thumped so hard I could feel it in my throat. And my mind went to the places it always went to.