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Will’s evening routine took some time, she said She needed to ensure someone was there to help Nathan had other plans Mr Traynor was apparently out for the evening ‘It’s an hour and a half minimum,’ she said

‘And it’s incredibly tedious,’ Will said

I realized he was looking for an excuse not to go ‘I’ll do it,’ I said ‘If Will tellsto help’ I said it al to

‘Well, that’s soruood view of et a bed bath froht of ned flesh’

‘I do not fall over at the sight of ned flesh’

‘Clark, I’ve never seen anyone more uncomfortable with a hu radioactive’

‘Let your mum do it, then,’ I snapped back

‘Yes, because thatout so much more attractive’

And then there was the wardrobe problem I didn’t knohat to wear

I had worn the wrong thing to the races How could I be sure I wouldn’t do so again? I asked Will ould be best, and he looked at hts will be down,’ he explained ‘Nobody will be looking at you They’ll be focused on the ht four different outfits to iththem all on to the bus in my Dad’s ancient suit carrier It was the only way I could convince o at all

Nathan arrived for the teatime shift at 530pm, and while he saw to Will I disappeared into the bathrooht of as e ained the kind of people ent to concerts ht be quite arty and flamboyant Will and Nathan both stared atroo my mum would wear,’ said Nathan

‘You never told me your mum was Nana Mouskouri,’ Will said

I could hear the as I disappeared back into the bathroom

The second outfit was a very severe black dress, cut on the bias and stitched hite collar and cuffs, which I had ht, both chic and Parisian

‘You look like you’re about to serve the ice creareat ly ‘Feel free to wear that one in the dayti next’

‘It is a bit dusty, now you et Mr Muscle in your tea tomorrow’

I discarded outfit nued trousers – already anticipating Will’s Rupert Bear references, and instead put on e dress in dark-red satin It was eneration and I always had to say a secret prayer that the zip would ave me the outline of a 1950s starlet, and it was a ‘results’ dress, one of those outfits you couldn’t help but feel good in I put a silver bolero over rey silk scarf aroundlipstick, and then stepped into the living rooly

Will’s eyes travelled up and down ed into a shirt and suit jacket Clean-shaven, and with his trily handsoht of him It wasn’t so much how he looked; it was the fact that he had made the effort

‘That’s the one,’ he said His voice was expressionless and oddly measured And as I reached down to adjust ht I had known it wasn’t quite right I took it off, folded it carefully and laid it on the back of the chair

‘And the scarf’

My hand shot to o And you look like you’re trying to hide soe otherwise’

‘So?’ he shrugged ‘Look, Clark, if you’re going to wear a dress like that you need to wear it with confidence You need to fill it mentally as well as physically’

‘Only you, Will Traynor, could tell a woman hoear a bloody dress’

But I took the scarf off

Nathan went to pack Will’s bag I orking out what I could add about how patronizing he hen I turned and saw that he was still looking at reat, Clark,’ he said, quietly ‘Really’

With ordinary people – what Ca-class’ people – I had observed a few basic routines, as far as Will was concerned Most would stare A few ht smile sye whisper what had happened I was often te-out with MI6,’ just to see their reaction, but I never did

Here’s the thing about middle-class people They pretend not to look, but they do They were too polite to actually stare Instead, they did this weird thing of catching sight of Will in their field of vision and then deterone past, at which point their gaze would flicker towards him, even while they remained in conversation with soh Because that would be rude

As we h the foyer of the Sys and prograin and tonics in the other, I saw this response pass through theentle ripple which followed us to the stalls I don’t know if Will noticed it Soht the only way he could deal with it was to pretend he could see none of it