After twenty minutes, the sun was just a lip of blue above the town behind them. “We should go back soon,” he said, forgetting how dark it got outside the city. “Yeah,” she said, but then he felt a resistance pulling his arm back and realized she’d stopped. “Alice?” he said a pace ahead.

I didn’t know Sarah’s dad particularly well. He was shy and religious. Sarah told me he found my presence difficult – she was the oldest and I was the first boyfriend in the family.