She was what you’d call confident. He openly looked her up and down. Tight denim minidress and stilettos. He caught a glimpse of her cleavage and looked away. No bra. She knocked the whiskey back in one go, slamming the glass on the table.

‘You married?’ she asked.

‘What do you think?’ He fingered his wedding ring in his pocket. He always took it off for work.

‘I don’t think you’re the type,’ she said.

He wasn’t quite sure how he got there, but he ended up at Jaz’s flat sometime after midnight. When he woke, he found his legs were threaded through hers. At least it wasn’t morning yet. He scanned the room. In the darkness he could make out a heap of clothes on a chair.

He eased himself out of bed. What the fuck was he going to say to Maddy?

‘Going so soon?’ said a croaky voice from under the duvet. He glanced behind him as he pulled his T-shirt from the chair, causing the whole pile to fall.

‘I’m meant to be somewhere,’ he said, untangling his overalls. ‘I should never have dozed off.’

‘That’s a good sign, isn’t it?’ she said, pulling back the sheets.

‘Maybe. Look…’ He stood over the bed, trying not to look at the inviting creaminess of her skin.

‘I know. It’s a one-off; you’re with someone. Happens to me all the time.’

‘Sorry.’ He squinted, trying not to sound so grateful.

‘Still, fulfilled a school-girl’s dream.’

He frowned and pulled up his trousers.

She laughed. ‘You don’t remember me, do you? I wouldn’t expect you to. I had fuzzy red hair and buck teeth.’

‘Do we know each other?’

‘Everyone knew who you were. Dated Ali Wood on and off for years, broke all our hearts.’

He laughed nervously. He still couldn’t think who she was.

‘Wait until I tell Ali I bumped into you.’

‘You… you see her?’ He switched the bedside light on and leaned over her.

‘Yeah, although she doesn’t live here anymore. Moved away, cut herself off from her crackpot family completely. Don’t blame her. She was well out of it. Their cab fleet business got raided and the loan shark side was uncovered, whole lot of them were banged up.’

‘Really, what even her dad?’

‘Yeah, amazing, isn’t it. About time too, I say, like the bloody mafia they were.’

‘Yeah, tell me about it. So, when do you see her?’ He was close enough to see a pierced hole above her lip.

‘She visits sometimes, lives near Peterborough, so not a million miles away.’

‘What’s her number?’ He took out his phone. It wasn’t a question as such as he had no intention of leaving until she’d given it to him.

‘I don’t think she’ll want to see you to be honest.’