"Right, the rest of the clothes," she says, with an embarrassed little laugh at the reminder they're nowhere near finished. Not with Neil still in nothing more than some borrowed underthings.

This was all so much less complex an hour or two ago, when neither of them were aware that anything amiss had happened.

"So, the offer of jeans and a blouse still stands, if a dress would be a bit too far after everything else," Rosie says, turning back towards the closet and taking down a folded pair from the shelf above the clothes rail. She looks again at the clothes on the hangers, pulling out a loose-fitting shirt in pale green that won't look bad at all on Neil's new and different frame. "And of course I'll come shopping with you."