“Is it still possible to have those kisses on the cheek, or both cheeks at once now?” he asked.

“You won’t even have to shave any more to fully enjoy them,” said Trudi.

After they’d finished eating, she took him up to her bedroom, sat on the bed and pressed her lips to his entire face at once.

“Oh honey that was great,” said Daniel at last.

“I think I can act the part of my teenage self indefinitely, but we can’t let my mother or your grandma or anyone else for that matter know what’s happened to you,” said Trudi, “You can live in this room, and stay well hidden when my mother’s around.

“I guess there’s one benefit to my reduced circumstances,” said Daniel, “Now you can take me on outings with you, when nobody else is going along with you.”

“We can do that,” said Trudi.

A year later, after several temporary gobblings, and countless licks and kisses, they were sitting at the lunch table again one day during the school holidays, while she was preparing to eat him again.

“The rides on your tongue each time are by far the best positive aspect of my being this tiny now,” said Daniel, “And we can keep on doing it over and over again.”

“Until I’m nearly 18,” said Trudi, “Before we even left the other future, I decided to let my two year marriage play out just as it did the first time I lived through those years. I’ll know that he’s not going to stay with me. So I’ll go into the marriage with lowered expectations, and no chance of being surprised and emotionally upheaved like last time. I’ll just enjoy the time with him while it lasts, but I won’t invest any emotion in him this time. That way I won’t get hurt.”

“I understand,” said Daniel, “Could you maybe ask your mother to let me stay here and look after me during those two years?”

“You can stay here instead,” she said, and pointed to her stomach.

“That joke wasn’t funny the first time you ate me,” said Daniel.

“I was joking then, because I knew we’d have three years together. At the moment, you’re forgetting what happened to Murray in the last timeline I spent with him.”

“But darling, I’ve done everything you wanted, by coming back here, dictating lots of new poetry for you to enjoy as you hand write it out for me, loving you with all my heart. Surely you could let me wait for your divorce, when you’re 18.”

She blew an enormous raspberry at him, keeping her tongue in the protruding position for several seconds. The sight of her tongue drove him into a state better expressed when he’d still had a fully developed body. It also confirmed that he would be wasting his time and building false hopes by continuing to appeal to her. His best option was to savour every moment of the next two highly promising years.