Kieren hasn't been keeping track, but he feels like it must be nearly six months, which is six months longer than anything he's had before (unless you count Simon, which had been maybe two weeks). "So maybe then it's just a bit in a garden and it's a piece of my home," Kieren amends, "and instead, I could take you out for a proper dinner in a real restaurant."

"And this time, I won't just sit there and watch you eat," he says fondly. "I'll be able to eat, too."