I wanted to laugh – at him, with him. But I couldn’t, not with my mind the way it was. He clapped a friendly hand on my shoulder. ‘Oh don’t mind me, Anna. I live in my own little world. But it is okay – they know me here.’

I smiled as best I could and looked around me uncomfortably. The driveway we were standing on ran between the two houses, through a large open patch of gravel, and finished up at another outbuilding – a tallish wooden shed, inside which two cars were parked side by side. There was a larger unseen section around the other side. ‘The stable,’ Hessel said, following my gaze. ‘You will have to meet my other beautiful girl. But later, later. Now, Elizabeth says you have some trouble with your case. Let us retrieve it.’

We walked along the crowded path at the side of the little house. The tangle seemed even thicker in the daylight, and if I’d been able to see at all last night I would never have come in that way – the driveway was obviously the only access. I stomped down the grass to flatten it but Hessel pushed through and leaned in past me and lifted my case above his head to keep it clear of the tangle as he walked it to the backyard. He was stronger than he looked.

‘I can do that, Grandpa.’

‘No, no problem,’ Hessel said, puffing a little.

He dragged the case across the lino of the kitchen and into the cluttered bedroom. I followed close behind, wondering how it would ever be possible to fit my case in, let alone open it, but Hessel managed to pull it through and deposited it on the desk, right on top of everything else.

‘Now you can get dressed for breakfast,’ he said, turning to me, failing to notice that I had slept in my clothes. ‘And don’t worry,’ his eyes twinkled conspiratorially, ‘your beautiful Grandma Elizabeth makes a better breakfast than she keeps house.’

I thanked him and closed the lean-to door – as much as was possible. Breathed out.

What now? What do I do now?

I sat on the bed and zipped Nassim’s hoodie up at the front and hugged it to my chest, and it was almost as if I was being hugged by him.

Almost. Almost. But never again. I closed my eyes. Never again.

A buzz came from my phone. Miraculously there were two bars, and then only one, and then none again. An opening of a magic portal just long enough for my phone to receive the messages from Nassim that must have been circling up there all last night, like an uncleared aircraft, waiting to land.

Hey babe, good day? You did a runner! Lucky I know you so well. Because your laptop had vanished too I assumed that you had both run off together to some study-nerds’ paradise where you were having heaps of fun without me. Correct? I can’t believe you can’t even take a moment to lie around in bed with your red-hot lover, you boring old swot. I stumbled downstairs and found the coffee myself, lucky for you.