‘Well . . . no, I’m exaggerating. But God, I don’t know, I drank a lot. And now I can’t drive. That’s bad. It’s irresponsible. It’s weird. Don’t you think it’s weird? Don’t you think there’s something wrong with me?’ Mimi’s voice was rising hysterically.

‘Okay, can we slow down here? I think maybe you’re getting carried away. One bad night with too many spirits and then a bit of hair of the dog the next day doesn’t make you an alcoholic, honey.’

‘You’re not hearing me! It’s not one bad night. It’s worse than that, it’s . . . it’s . . . I don’t know . . . It’s me escaping . . . me wanting to escape from my life.’

‘Wait, the lemonade bottle? You’ve been hiding alcohol in a lemonade bottle in the fridge?’

‘Yes! That’s what I’m trying to say here — I have a problem. I’m drinking and hiding it, drinking and lying about it. Blaming our teenage daughter. There’s something wrong with me.’ She put her face in her hands and rubbed at her skin in frustration.

‘Blaming Callie? I’m confused.’

She dropped her hands and looked at him guiltily. ‘Your mum drank from the same bottle yesterday. I kind of . . . lied and pretended it was Callie.’

‘You didn’t?’

‘I did.’

‘Okay, okay, I get it. It’s bigger than I first thought and I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to downplay it, to dismiss you. I thought you were just feeling bad about a few big nights and that you needed me to reassure you.’

Now he reached a hand across and squeezed her thigh. ‘And yes, lying isn’t great, in fact, it’s pretty crappy, because I always thought we never lied to one another — about anything. Except for that time you told me I looked good in those cycling pants —’

‘Pete!’

‘Sorry! I digress. But here’s the good thing — you’ve told me the truth now, which means we can fix this. Because it means that you want help. You want to fix it. So, we’re going to do it together. And we’re going to start with figuring out exactly what it is that you’re trying to escape from, okay?’

Mimi let out a long, slow breath. She’d told the truth. They were going to fix it. Everything was going to be okay again. And this horrible stage in her life was going to be a small blip. A tiny moment where things had started to take a dark turn, where things could have got much, much worse. Where she really could have spiralled, done something awful, something she might have regretted for the rest of her life. But instead, they were going to rescue her.

Her phone started ringing.