SCRUBBING THE DECKS, THE NEXT few mornings gave me a chance to properly meet some of the other allies. It also helped to work out some of the morning gloom that hit, especially now when each night in my dreams I tried to persuade him not to go on that fated morning run. His lips and touch, the feel of his body beneath my hands felt gloriously real in those dreams. Somehow it seemed that if I stopped him leaving for the run, then I'd wake and find him here.

Sloshing the ...