It’s you and me against the world.

24

Sunday 2 February

I wake up with a sore head after one too many drinks the night before. We decided to head into town for a bit of a blow-out, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Tom wasn’t drinking, as per usual, but I certainly had more than my fair share.

While he’s still snoring away in bed, I decide to get up and do a bit of housekeeping. Once the headache’s cleared a bit, I decide to brave looking at a screen and check my bank balance. I mostly used my debit card to buy drinks yesterday, and am worried about how much I might have spent.

The online banking app loads and I log in. The balance immediately looks off. By quite a bit. I don’t check my balance half as often as I should do, but I’m pretty certain this isn’t right.

I scroll back through the history, and nothing looks out of place. Until it strikes me. The mortgage money’s gone out, but Tom’s half hasn’t come in to help cover it. As a result, I’m hundreds of pounds down.

I’m sure it’s an innocent mistake. I wouldn’t normally mind, but after the expense of Christmas I’m already in my overdraft as it is.

Half an hour or so later, he comes plodding downstairs in his boxers and heads straight for the thermostat.

‘Probably be a bit warmer if you put some clothes on,’ I say. ‘And it’d save us money.’

I wonder if this will prod his memory, but I’m pretty certain it won’t.

‘I’ll get dressed after I have a shower,’ he says, yawning. ‘Not much point doing it twice in the space of ten minutes.’

‘Well, the place is clean. Ish. Just trying to get a few things ticked off my list so I can collapse on the sofa this afternoon. I’ve sorted out the kitchen, tidied the living room, done the finances. Oh, that reminds me,’ I say, as if it’s a minor thing I’d almost forgotten. ‘For some reason your half of the mortgage hasn’t been coming through.’

‘Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that. Problems with the bank. I’ll get it sorted, I promise.’

‘When?’

‘I don’t know. Christ, I’ve only just woken up.’

‘I know, but it’s important, Tom. I’m in the red as it is, and I don’t know if I’m going to have a job for much longer.’

‘Alright, I’ll try and sort it out today.’

This sounds like an excuse to me. ‘You’ve been living here for a while now and you said you’d contribute your half.’

‘Yeah, and I will. I just said I would, didn’t I? I’ll speak to my boss and see what I can do.’

‘Your boss?’

I swear I see Tom wince slightly. ‘Yeah, some sort of problem with the finance department. They haven’t been paying people on time. Just an admin error apparently. Nothing to worry about, but it’s slowing things down.’