‘Who’s the friend?’ one of them called as they walked outside. ‘I hadn’t figured you as being into women.’

‘I’m her daughter, silly.’ Andi posed obligingly for the camera.

Sophie grabbed her arm and yanked her towards the car. ‘Do not encourage them!’

‘It doesn’t hurt to set the record straight.’

‘It upsets me even to talk to that man. He’s the worst of them all.’

When they got back, Andi fidgeted about then got to the point and asked her mother to keep on paying her rent until she found a new job.

Sophie agreed, of course. What else could she do? But she refused to pay Andi an allowance as well as the rent. ‘You need to get on social security, and let them help you find a job.’

‘They don’t give you enough to live on.’

‘You’ll have to economise, then. Other people manage.’

‘I don’t want to take another dead-end job.’

‘You do what you have to in order to earn a living. If you’d finished your degree, you’d have had more choice, made more money.’

Andi opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it shut again and contented herself with a dirty look. ‘I’d better go.’

She’d come mainly for the money, Sophie admitted to herself as she closed the door. Again. And the evening hadn’t really brought them any closer.

She felt lonely, the silence seeming to echo around her. She hadn’t thought about that till she spent time with Jez.

But it was because of him that she’d been followed tonight and if she continued to see him, this would go on. She didn’t think she could live like this. She’d be better stopping things now, before they went too far.

Jez tried ringing Sophie, but got only her answering machine and she didn’t call back.

He tried the following day, with the same result, and wondered if she’d been having second thoughts about seeing him. The thought of that upset him more than he’d expected.

If she didn’t return his calls by the end of the week, he’d go round to see her again. He wasn’t going to let what was between them die stillborn. Meeting her had given him more hope for the future than anything else had for a long time.

It surprised him how much he wanted to see her again, how often he thought about her. He didn’t usually feel so – overwhelmed by the need to see a woman.

A woman! She wasn’t ‘a woman’, she was Sophie, a very special person.

As Sophie got ready to go out with Peter, she felt absurdly nervous. The days had flown by while she was working, but the evenings had seemed – empty. She’d decided not to answer the phone at all, merely checking her message bank – feeling guiltier each day as she heard Jez’s voice asking her to return his call.

He’d rung her every single day!

When Sophie opened the door to Peter, after letting him bring his car into her drive, she felt tongue-tied and was glad he wanted to leave at once.