‘I didn’t even tell him all of it,’ Anna said to Jake, still outside.

‘He’s certainly heard enough for now, though.’ Jake stopped by the door of the van. In the shadows his face looked longer, and thin, his expression anxious. He glanced in at Krish and shook his head. ‘D’you think I was wrong?’

‘No. I’d have had to tell him. He was going to keep asking me.’

They drove back in silence, Krish pressed against Anna’s shoulder. He was asleep, but uneasily so, and kept stirring and giving long, groaning sighs. The silence between herself and Jake was not neutral either. She knew there was a pressure of emotion between them, of need and attraction. That each of them was waiting to see if the other would move forward first. Anna felt very alert, her emotions heightened, as if she could go on effortlessly all night with no sleep.

‘He looks so vulnerable, doesn’t he?’ she said eventually, and the remark seemed to jar into the charged silence, a distraction from their thoughts.

Jake nodded. ‘What you said about coming round tomorrow – that’d be really good.’

Anna smiled in the blue night light, hoping, knowing he did not just want her there because of Krish. ‘I’ll be round about nine-thirty,’ she said.

When they stopped outside Kate’s house, Jake jumped quickly out of the van and came round to open her side. He waited as she climbed down. Krish slumped further, half lying across the seat.

‘Thanks for this evening,’ Jake said, sounding uncertain now.

She jumped to the pavement and stood looking up at him. Each of them waited, taking courage to look into each other’s face. Even in the dim light she could see the emotion in Jake’s eyes, his searching her for a response. But she was afraid. It was too soon and the feelings too serious to hurry.

She looked away. ‘Goodnight, then. I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘OK,’ he said quietly. He leaned forward and gave her a brief, awkward hug. She was taken by surprise and had barely registered the feeling of him against her when he had let her go and was striding round to the other door of the van. The door slammed, the engine started up.

She stood waving as he drove away, seeing the white van recede down the street, feeling excited yet regretful.

‘And who the hell was that?’ a voice said behind her.

Things registered all at once. The car parked a little further along the street, the old blue Saab. The self-righteous voice. She turned to see his angry eyes behind her. Richard.

Chapter 37

He slammed Kate’s front door behind them with such violence that the house shuddered. The force of it jarred Anna’s nerves, set off her temper.

‘Don’t do that,’ she snapped, switching on the hall light, then the kitchen. ‘It isn’t your house.’

‘Oh dear.’ Richard followed her into the kitchen, laughing sarcastically. ‘ “It isn’t your house,” ’ he mimicked. ‘Just listen to you.’