He nodded and turned to go up the stairs. ‘I’m not cross about the spill,’ said Kerry, placing a hand on his shoulder. ‘I’m sure it was an accident, but it’s the kind of accident you need to tell me about right away.’ He nodded again. ‘And well done for spotting Edie,’ she added. ‘I’m very pleased you did.’ At that, he grinned at me through the bannisters and then raced the rest of the way up the stairs.

Kerry turned to me. ‘You’re a beautiful woman, but today you look like shit,’ she said quietly.

‘You’re not the first to have noticed,’ I replied.

Smiling, she beckoned me to follow her and then installed me in one of the back-room armchairs, placing a multicoloured throw over my knees, while she went into the kitchen to make the tea. It was, I reflected, only a puréed meal and a box of dominoes away from nursing care. Not that I minded. Together with the low, warm light from a slightly bedraggled patchwork lamp, Kerry’s kindness had sparked a tiny but distinct sense of well-being of the kind I hadn’t experienced for several days.

A few minutes later, she returned, carrying two mugs. ‘Here you go; black no sugar. That’s right, isn’t it?’ she asked, handing one to me.

‘Yes. Thank you.’

‘Are you hungry? I’ve got biscuits and cake.’

I shook my head. ‘Nothing, thanks.’

‘OK.’ She sat down opposite me.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘about Friday.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘What an evening.’

‘What has Giles told you?’

‘Well, he’s told me about the bitch who lied to you about Ron,’ she said sternly.

‘I thought she was telling the truth,’ I said quietly.

‘Of course you did!’ she exclaimed. ‘And so you should. Women need to be believed over stuff like that and why would your first thought be that your friend is a liar? Nice people judge other people by their own standards. You wouldn’t tell terrible lies about the new bloke at work, so you don’t think anyone else would either.’

I looked at her, aware that if I’d had just an ounce more energy, I would have got up and flung my arms around her in silent gratitude for her kind-heartedness and above-and-beyond understanding. However, in my enfeebled state, I could offer her only a wobbly smile and a whispered, ‘Thank you.’

‘I was so relieved about it all when Giles told me. I knew in here,’ she continued, patting her chest, ‘that you were a good person. There’s no way Giles would love you as much as he does if you weren’t. My only real worry was whether you might have told anyone else what she’d said. But Giles said that he didn’t think that you had.’ She looked at me anxiously.