‘OK,’ said Gina, and they all went back together and celebrated Sylvester’s slightly eccentric life. Afterwards, when it was over and the girls had cleared everything away so that the club would be ready for business in a couple of days – for two days it would be closed in respect of Sylvester’s death – Claire went upstairs to her room and cried over the loss.

She wondered what would happen to the club now, to all of Sylvester’s dreams for it. He’d never expanded the business as he’d wanted to – she suspected his ill health had let him down on that – but he’d lived for the club, it had become his family home. Without him, it was going to feel very strange, working here.

Dear Sylvester.

Such a kind man. The sort of man any woman should be happy to love. He deserved a lot better than her.

Nearly a month after the funeral, it became clear that Sylvester had thought very highly of Claire, whether she accepted him as a husband or not. She took a call from his lawyer, telling her that Sylvester had left the club – and everything in it – to her.

46

46

By the time Connor Flynn came screaming into the world, Shauna had the nursery fully kitted out and was making inroads into the furnishings for the rest of the house, too, costing Josh a fortune in the process. He was making some wedge, doing lots of door work and bare-knuckle bouts. Linus Pole was keeping in touch and pushing plenty of booth sessions and ‘out the back’ straighteners his way. He went down the gym on the corner of the street often, worked out there with the weights, beat the fuck out of the other boxers. Kept himself fit.

‘You could be world class, with a bit of polish,’ said the old geezer who trained the kids down there.

All Josh knew was that he needed a lot more dosh. He wasn’t pulling in anywhere near enough. Shauna was high-maintenance. Just today he’d come home from the gym, taken a bath and sat down to eat his dinner – Shauna was a great cook – in front of the TV.

Then Shauna told him there was a new three-piece suite coming on Monday, she’d bought it on the never-never. That old thing they’d bought second-hand from an ad in the corner-shop window was tatty, she was tired of it.

‘You what?’ he said, dropping his knife and fork, feeling the steak lodge in his throat. That ‘old thing’ was less than a year old, and in pristine condition.

‘You heard. And that fucking Zephyr, Josh. You know, what we ought to have is a Rover, something classy like that . . .’

Her eyes were alight with excitement. When it came to spending money, Shauna got really turned on.