“I think you owe me a million explanations tonight, Alexi. If you want me to stay, then be honest with me! Stop letting this all filter out in a drib-drab motion and get it over with. I don’t think my nerves can take much more. It surely can’t be worse than …” I wave my hand in the air in an encompassing motion, meaning ‘this, everything’, hoping to God I’m right.

He throws me a look that says, ‘I bet it can’, and my stomach drops to my toes like a lead weight. Not ...