Kate looks out of the window, seeing their surroundings through her husband’s eyes: the crisp packets and plastic bags twisting in the wind, the bubble writing graffiti, the bike frame chained to the railings, stripped of its wheels, handle bar and seat. Then she looks up at the grey, concrete monstrosity that towers above them.

‘Home.’ She smiles tightly. ‘It’s not … you’ll get used to it.’

Tom leans forward in his seat. ‘What floor did you say we were on?’

‘The eighth.’

He shrugs. ‘I guess that’s one way to stay fit.’

‘I’ve tried to make it look nice. Inside.’

‘I’m sure it looks lovely.’

Not as lovely as our old house, Kate thinks but doesn’t say.

While Tom has a nap in the bedroom, Kate pours herself a glass of wine and sits down at the small table in the living room that she uses as a desk. It’s where she heads every evening, after she returns home from whichever financial institute, legal firm or company the temping agency sent her to that day. It’s where she studied, researched, and formulated her plan. She glances back towards the bedroom, logs into Twitter and then takes a sip of red wine.

@SoulShrink

Self-help for your soul. Tom Wade. Somatic Symptom survivor and Motivational Speaker. Lifelong solutions for stress and anxiety. I’ve been where you are. Let me help.

1,997 Following, 215k Followers

She’d set up the account ten years earlier, shortly after she and Tom got together, when someone in his ragtag little somatic symptom survivor group said their soul felt lighter after the meetings and someone else piped up, ‘That’s because Tom’s a soul shrink.’ Tom’s eyes had shone when he returned home that evening. ‘I feel like I’m doing something important,’ he’d told Kate. ‘This isn’t just about me anymore. It’s about helping others, setting them free.’ A weight had lifted in Kate’s chest. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him so happy and fulfilled. While he cooked dinner she’d crept off to the bedroom and pulled her laptop onto her knees.

‘There you go,’ she’d said, returning to the kitchen some time later, angling the screen towards him as he stirred the risotto on the stove. ‘Your Twitter handle is SoulShrink and your description is self-help for your soul. Now you can reach millions and transform their lives too.’

He’d laughed. ‘Followers? That makes me sound like Jesus.’

‘Well, he had loads. You’ve only got one.’

Tom had raised his eyebrows. ‘Someone found it already?’

‘Yeah.’ Kate smiled. ‘Me.’

He’d wrapped his arms around her then, pulled her into his body and kissed her until the smell of burnt rice filled the air.