‘Hello?’ She sounded out of breath, even anticipatory, as if she’d hurried to reply. A hum of conversation in the background told him she was in a public place.

‘Thanks for letting me know about Harry and Rory,’ he said softly. ‘I’m glad you rang.’ He didn’t say whether he was glad because of the boys or just glad.

‘It’s been a bit tricky,’ she answered guardedly. ‘My first reaction was that it would be wrong to take them, but then it became obvious it would be wrong not to. If they’d gone with their plan – well, Harry’s plan – to hitch, who knows what could happen. I’m super-conscious their absence from home is soon going to become obvious, but what do I do? I could get Jordy’s home number from you and ring, but …’

‘Harry’s trusting you and he’s eighteen,’ Aaron finished for her. ‘It’s a delicate situation. I thought the discussion last night had gone well. We talked about their relationship and all the different ways they could proceed from here. I even offered to go with Harry when he told his parents, but Harry knows very well that he couldn’t rely on Jordy to react like a sensible human being instead of a homophobe.’ Aaron leaned against the wall, feeling reassured to hear her voice.

‘So, do you have a view?’ she asked now, breaking into his musings. ‘I can’t just let the boys’ parents start panicking because their kids haven’t come home. It’s already past eight so they’ll be wondering.’

‘True.’ He thought for several moments. ‘How about I talk to Harry?’

‘That would be great, but he’d need to ring you back,’ she said carefully.

He got that certain conversations were best not conducted in public places. ‘OK. Where are they right now? No, don’t tell me,’ he amended quickly. ‘If I don’t know then I can’t tell anybody. But are you with them?’

‘I am at the moment and I’ve been able to arrange a bed for them for a few nights,’ she added. ‘Hopefully, Harry will speak to you in a bit.’ She rang off.

Aaron began clearing up after his meal. A knock fell on his back door and Nelson jumped up in a whirl of woofs and claws skittering on the floor. When Aaron swung the door open, Genevieve stood framed in the doorway. ‘Oh,’ he said.

She smiled. ‘Am I interrupting anything?’ She looked at him uncertainly as Nelson fawned around her legs.

‘No,’ Aaron said, wrong-footed but deciding that ex-lover etiquette suggested he should be polite. ‘Want a coffee?’

Her face lit up and she came in and sat down at the kitchen table as she used to.

‘How are things going with your house?’ he asked as he put the kettle on to boil. ‘Nearly finished?’

Genevieve nodded. ‘Yes. I suppose that’s why I’ve called to see you, really. It’s probably a bit sad—’

Aaron’s landline began to ring. ‘Sorry, I should have said I’m expecting a call,’ he said, not able to let it go to his machine when he’d only just arranged with Clancy that Harry would call.