Both of them had known it was almost impossible that the other one would say yes, bail them out of the problem in a heartbeat, but both of them had been imagining it anyway. Yes, don’t worry, I’ve got this. He’s fine. Now the prospect of that gift was gone, and each of them felt slightly resentful of the other for not supplying it.

‘Well, do you know what he’s been doing tonight?’ asked Michaela, trying to screen Phillip out of her field of vision as he left the room – slowly, still with a schoolmasterly air, his body implying that he was happily above all this. But she was being unfair, reading too much in, letting panic do the talking. There was really no time to think about her boyfriend. She needed to think about her ex. ‘Is he driving for you, has he been—?’

‘He doesn’t work for me any more,’ said Karl, a little stiffly.

‘What?’

‘He … we went our separate ways.’ The line came out stilted even in his own ears. Michaela heard, in it, the memory of how empty it had sounded when she’d used the same phrase, to explain to people why she’d left James.

‘So you don’t even know … I mean, where is he living? Have you checked on him?’

‘How can I have checked on him, mate? I’ve told you, I’m trying to … I’ve had to try and get this bloke to Newcastle.’ Karl took a couple more steps away from the car at the thought of his passenger, who was rustling around more than Karl would like, grappling with the seatbelt in his sleep. He hoped the guy wouldn’t turn out to be one of those people who were weirdly active in their sleep and startled themselves awake. A mate of Karl’s claimed to have done an entire Sudoku in his sleep, but then the same bloke also claimed never to have eaten a piece of fruit. Karl felt, in the back of his throat, the catch of remorse. All these mates who’d never really understood James, who found him a bit quiet and boring; and Karl had ended up favouring that gang over James.

‘Well, but you’re still his friend, right?’ Michaela was saying, almost as if she could read his thoughts.