Yvonne waits at the bottom of the stairs for Lewis. On the mat sit a few birthday cards from her brothers, nieces and nephews and a handmade one from Kiama. On the front he’s drawn two elephants, their trunks intertwined. She imagines how long it must have taken him, sitting in that cluttered living room, surrounded by the sprawl of his papers.

‘He’s getting good at this,’ she says.

‘What’s that?’ Lewis asks as he comes down, sunglasses on despite the thick greyness of the sky.

‘Nothing.’ She closes the card and folds it in with the council tax bill, hoping he won’t see it. ‘Just some birthday cards.’ It feels deceitful, but necessary. She has to set boundaries between her link to Kiama and Emma, and her relationship with Lewis. After their argument it was agreed that Yvonne would tell Emma everything and they would see how things went from there. While Lewis believes it will end their friendship, Yvonne is hopeful that over time Emma will get used to the idea and things will work out, eventually falling into something that works for everyone.

‘You ready to go?’ he asks.

‘Yes, but you still haven’t told me where we’re going.’ Last month she had seen the page open on his laptop of flights to Dubai and the dates selected fell over her birthday weekend. But, she knew all the money he was making at the gym was being ploughed into the business he was trying to get off the ground with his brother. A trip like that would have been well out of his price range. So, she’d been obsessively dropping hints about how much she wanted to do a weekend away with him in the countryside, somewhere remote, somewhere they could spend a good block of time together, secluded from the world. She was relieved last night when instead of telling her to pack a bikini he watched the weather forecast and asked if she owned wellingtons.

He takes her hand, ‘I will not cease from Mental Fight.’

‘What?’

‘Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand.’

‘Oh no,’ she laughs while following him out to the car. ‘Please, stop.’

‘Till we have built Jerusalem. In England’s green and pleasant land.’ He chucks her bag in the back. ‘Perfect weather for a weekend in the countryside.’

The drive is longer than expected and Yvonne spends much of it holding the TomTom, which keeps falling off the windscreen, and repeating all the instructions Lewis mishears.

Her patience runs thin as they drive through Oxford and she turns the music down. Lewis raises an eyebrow at her, ‘I can’t believe you did that.’

‘It’s too loud and it’s driving me mad. Can’t we listen to something else?’

‘You really touched my radio. That’s my deal-breaker,’ he turns it back up, even louder.