I walked out of the hospital, thankful that for the second time in just a few months I had been discharged from medical care. My leg was all better, though still a little stiff and sore, and I made a solemn vow to myself: no more accidents. I was going to be more careful from now on.

I was supposed to be meeting Charlie for lunch near Moorfields, but she’d texted me to say there was some kind of crisis going on at work. I didn’t want to go straight home so decided I would have lunch out by myself, but would first drop by Victor’s office to see what was going on there.

A week had passed since he had been arrested and I hadn’t heard anything. I guessed I was very low priority. With every day that went by I became more convinced that my career as a senior designer had ended before it had begun. I’d sent a number of emails and enquiries to rival agencies and a few other contacts, but everyone came back with the same response: sorry, but they didn’t need any work at the moment, maybe after Easter . . .

Charlie assured me things would be OK, that I didn’t need to find a job, and last night we had talked again about her moving in, a topic that I’d avoided since her jealous meltdown.

‘So, do you still want to come and live with me?’ I asked.

‘Hmm, it depends . . . Do you promise not to take me for granted?’

‘I could never do that, Charlie.’

‘Not even in bed?’

‘I definitely won’t do that.’

She had smiled slyly. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Within a month, I’ll be in bed alone with an erotica novel and you’ll be staying up playing video games. Then you’ll get annoyed with me for rearranging the bookshelves and taking over the wardrobe. You’ll expect me to cook your dinner every night while you lounge around in a pair of stained underpants drinking beer.’

I laughed. ‘Hang on, I thought it was you who wanted to move in.’

‘I thought it was something we both wanted.’

‘Sorry. Yes. It is. I mean, I do want it.’

‘It’s settled then.’ She looked around the living room. ‘I can’t wait to completely redecorate this place.’

‘Hey!’