‘Why do you put up with me?’ She laughs at that, but I keep going. ‘No, I mean, seriously. I’ve been such a dick lately, about all the book stuff. Or maybe I’ve been a dick the whole time we’ve known each other. But either way—’

She tilts her chin up and kisses me gently on the mouth. ‘You haven’t been a dick …’ she kisses me again, ‘the whole time.’ She tastes of cranberries and chocolate and cinnamon, and it’s a delicious combination. ‘The thing is, Ben,’ she says, ‘I’m in love with you. And don’t get me wrong: I’m not happy about it. I’d rather be in love with someone who was less of a twat. But unfortunately I don’t have much choice in the matter. I fell in love with you, and now you’re stuck with me whether you like it or not.’

Later – much later – we’re lying in bed, in Daff’s tiny shared flat in Balham.

She’s on her side, snoring lightly, and I’m snuggled right up against her warm bare back, my naked body curved neatly around hers.

And still that sentence keeps running over and over in my brain. I fell in love with you, and now you’re stuck with me whether you like it or not. I can’t get it out of my head. The firework of happiness that shot through me when she said it. I remember something else, too; something Mum said during that Monopoly game yesterday. All that matters right now is: do you make each other happy?

Right now, I feel the happiest I’ve felt in a very, very long time. I honestly think Daff does, too.

All I wanted to do tonight was to make up for what happened on this evening first time around. To change my memory of it from a grim, shameful one to a good one. And I think I’ve done that. But I never planned to end the day like this.

I never imagined that after the long, rumbling Tube journey south, Daff would close her bedroom door and kiss me so passionately, so hungrily. And that I would feel my whole body pulse with excitement because I knew exactly what was going to happen next …

I can’t even remember the last time we had sex back in 2020. And whenever it was, it definitely wasn’t like this. I forgot we could be like this together. I forgot that we fit so perfectly, that I can lose myself so completely in the moment with her.

And now she’s lying fast asleep beside me, and I can feel exhaustion weighing down on me too. There’s no clock on her wall, and my phone is somewhere in the jumble of clothes on the floor, so I have no idea how much longer I have here. But it must be nearly midnight by now.