I lowered my voice. ‘He was telling me earlier that he patrols the avenue and keeps a log of parked cars.’

‘He’s obsessed with people putting in driveways too,’ said Nicky, shaking her head despairingly. ‘Gary, from number 12, told me that Patrick hasn’t spoken to him since he dropped the kerb in 2015 for his mum’s mobility scooter. I mean, personally, the idea of Patrick never speaking to me ever again sounds like a massive plus, but poor Gary’s actually quite hurt by it.’ Nicky sighed and then turned to Cameron. ‘But how are you, Ron? Edie says it’s mad at work.’

His eyes darted towards me for a moment. ‘There’s certainly a lot going on.’

‘Hiya, Ron,’ said Kerry, reaching up to place a hand on his shoulder, as she and Giles joined the group. I watched as Cameron turned and bent low to give her a kiss. Clearly, I was the only woman in the room he couldn’t bring himself to have physical contact with.

‘Ronal… Ron,’ said Giles, extending a hand. ‘So pleased you could make it after all.’

Cameron shook his hand – thereby proving that skin-to-skin contact with men was also not an issue for him. ‘Me too,’ he said, with a glance at Kerry.

She turned to Giles. ‘Giles, can you show Nicky and Andy those shelves the carpenter has put in for you?’

He frowned. ‘The ones in the understairs cupboard?’

‘Yes.’

‘Now?’ he asked uncertainly.

‘Oh yes, please,’ said Nicky, putting down her glass. ‘Kerry told me about them yesterday, when I was moaning about storage. I think we should get some shelving, Andy.’

‘Er…’ Andy blinked slowly, swayed slightly, and then shrugged. ‘OK.’

‘Go and look,’ Kerry said, gently nudging Giles and gesturing for Nicky and Andy to follow.

Andy laughed and held up a hand. ‘It’s OK, Kerry,’ he said, as his wife and Giles headed off. ‘I trust Nicky with all our major home-improvement decisions. Now Ron,’ he said, beaming at Cameron, ‘I wanted to tell you about—’

‘No, you need to come and see the shelves too, Andy,’ said Kerry, linking her arm through his.

‘I do?’ he asked, with obvious bewilderment. ‘But aren’t they just long and straight and flat?’

She shook her head. ‘Some of them go round corners.’

‘Ooooh, corner shelves…’ said Andy, allowing himself to be gently guided by Kerry in the direction of the hallway. ‘They’re my favourite.’

I watched them go and then turned back to Cameron.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘That escalated quickly.’

I picked up the bottle of red. ‘I should go and circulate with this. Would you like me to introduce you to anyone else here? Cormac Walsh over there is a surveyor and an interesting guy – just don’t mention the black eye. Or you could join the group in the understairs cupboard, I suppose.’

He glanced around the room. ‘I’m here to talk to you,’ he said.