She had known for six years and had been instructed never to say it aloud. She apologised for eleven years in about nine minutes, and I believed every word.

Desmond fought the divorce for a year on the theory that a spouse who contributes generously is entitled to recover through the marital estate, which is a novel argument when nothing in the marital estate is yours. He lost. He teaches now, somewhere small, and I understand he is well liked.

Arabella works for me. Operations, western region, and she is better at it than anyone I have promoted in a decade. Her mother has not spoken to her since she took the job.

My mother is seventy nine and lives four streets from me and still comments on the standard of my floors.

I spent eleven years writing cheques into a ledger, believing that enough usefulness would eventually buy me a chair. Belonging is not a thing anybody sells. The day I stopped trying to purchase it, I discovered I had been standing in my own house the entire time