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September to be caught in the middle of two warring parents. I want her to see that it’s possible for two people to go on loving and respecting each other, even if they’re not together any more.’
    ‘And Sasha sees it the same way, does she?’
    ‘Absolutely. Like I say, she’s been amazing. That’s why I want to come and stay at yours. It’s a kind of halfway-house thing to get us all used to the idea of being apart. It’ll be easier for her. Baby steps and all that.’
    You had to hand it to Dan. There he was, about to destroy two people’s lives, and yet he could leave you feeling like he was the selfless one.
    ‘Look, I’ll talk to Hannah. But you’d have to promise not to be in touch with this Sienna , OK?’
    ‘Sure.’
    ‘And when would you be wanting to avail yourself of our deluxe sofa facilities?’
    ‘Tomorrow. It’s Saturday and we could come around with September and make a big deal of me going on a sleepover at your house, and September could sort of settle me in, so it would seem like an adventure, not like me sneaking away in the night with my suitcases.’
    ‘I’ll talk to her. That’s all I can do.’
    ‘I still don’t like it.’
    Hannah was going around the living room effecting a grudging and superficial tidy-up – she’d already wiped a damp J cloth over the coffee table, going around the pile of magazines and books, leaving a narrow ring of dust around the bottom like an extra frill, and now she was picking up odd bits of jigsaw and old lidless felt pens and cramming them all into the bottom drawer of the low table where the telly sat, which had become the home for all odds and ends that didn’t fit anywhere else. Josh held back from asking why she was keeping pens that clearly didn’t work.
    ‘Well, you’re the one who spoke to Sasha. It’s what she wants.’
    ‘Yes, but she doesn’t know the truth.’
    ‘That’s not what Dan says. I told you, he said Sienna is out of the picture.’
    ‘For now.’
    ‘Whatever. We can’t do anything about it now. They’ll be here any minute.’
    Hannah sighed. ‘I know, and just look at this place. Dan’s used to living in a house with a stay-at-home wife and a cleaner twice a week. How’s he going to cope in a place where you can’t even see through the shower screen because of the limescale?’
    ‘That’s not limescale, it’s dirt. Anyway, who cares if Dan’s appalled by our non-existent domestic hygiene? In fact, it’d be better if he was, in a way. At least it would mean he won’t stay long.’
    Josh was feeling very odd about the forthcoming visit. Growing up an only child of much older parents, he’d never really done the whole sleepover thing. His parents’ house was the kind of place where the doors had cushioned strips of padding around them to stop them from slamming and there were three sets of slippers neatly lined up in the entrance hall ready to be stepped into the moment you came through the door. As a result he’d never been entirely easy about having people to stay, always fretting about whether they needed a glass of water or a reading light, or that he might keep them awake with his snoring, even though as far as he knew he only snored when he was extremely drunk.
    Hannah was different. She came from a noisy household where just thirteen months separated her from her younger sister, Gemma. Hannah had always shared a room and was therefore accustomed to going to sleep top and tailing with someone else, waking up with a visiting friend’s feet in her face, or covered in a dressing gown because someone else had filched her duvet in the night. Most of the time her mum had been the kind of parent who loved her house to be full of extra children, thinking nothing of whipping up an extra boiled egg or two in the mornings. And even when she was having one of her periodic depressive episodes where she’d confine herself to her room, the girls still invited their friends round so she knew where they were