Because the evening has come on warm and balmy, she opens the doors and carries the little table from the kitchen out on to the patio, returning for the chairs. She sets the table, brings a candle in a jar, clips some stray roses from overhanging branches of the climber next door and pops them into a water glass. She wants the setting to be perfect. She wants them to remember it.

Briefly, she looks up at the house, but the windows are all closed and there is something forbidding about the place. She calls Jake and he carries their plates outside, whistling, while Leah pours wine into his glass.

‘To us,’ Jake toasts, clinking his glass with hers, and he leans across to kiss her tenderly and happily, then raises the wine to his lips.

All week, she has been waiting for this moment: Friday evening, just the two of them alone together, no distractions, sharing a meal. And it’s more perfect than she could have imagined. The taste of the food she has prepared, the privacy of this outdoor space, the scent of roses rising strongly from the little glass between them. Her senses feel alive, a shiver of nerves in her tummy as she waits for the right moment to tell him.

Over dinner, Jake talks about the progress of the pilot he’s been filming – a project coordinated by one of his friends, whom Leah doesn’t know. She’s somewhat amazed by the number of friends Jake has. Her boyfriend is a sociable creature, someone who forges bonds easily – a talent she does not possess. It’s because of the openness of his nature – a lack of guile coupled with a genuine interest in other people. She envies him this quality. Perhaps it’s one of the things that attracted her to him – as if she might absorb some of his confidence through sheer osmosis. And it amazes her that this gregarious life-embracing man has fallen so completely for a bookish, introverted person like her.

‘Ian had another meeting with RTÉ – showed them the latest cut of the pilot,’ Jake tells her, between mouthfuls. ‘He says they loved it, that they’re giving serious consideration to commissioning a series.’

‘That would be amazing.’

‘Of course there’ll be a few things they’ll want to change. I mean, that’s inevitable. But they were really positive about it.’

‘What things would they want to change?’

‘Ian didn’t say. He said we don’t need to worry about any of that until we get the green light. Anyway, who cares, right? A part in a series, Lee,’ he says, reaching over the table for her hand. ‘On national TV! And not just any part – the main part! I’d be sorted. I’d be made.’

‘When will you know?’