‘To see Terry. He’s got a discount voucher for the cinema so I said I’d go.’

‘Two Minute Terry? Again?’

‘Stop calling him that. It sounds so wrong. He’s shy, that’s all. Also, he’s much closer to ten minutes,’ Emma winks as she pushes her purse into her pocket.

‘Please tell me you haven’t slept with Two Minute Terry?’

‘No, course not. I’m not that easy. But it’s not like there’s anyone else calling me, is there?’

After the barbecue, Yvonne had watched Emma leave Lewis a voicemail explaining that she could stay in the UK over the summer. She had followed up with a text, then another voicemail the next day. But it was clear, at least to Yvonne, that he was pulling away. Emma had sulked around the house for a few days, her phone close by at all times. Then, once, she burst into tears and handed the phone over to Yvonne. ‘I can’t keep waiting like this,’ she said, before slamming the front door and disappearing for an afternoon. Yvonne had sat there with the old brick phone in her hands, waiting for the screen to flash with a message from Sweetboy, but it never came.

Emma rattles about in a jewellery box. ‘Why can I never find a matching pair?’ She holds a few up then throws them back in. ‘Fuck it, it’s going to be dark anyway.’

‘Do you even like him?’

‘Who?’

‘Two Minute Terry.’

Emma wobbles her hand. ‘I’m not looking to get serious with anyone. I did that with Sweetboy and ended up getting hurt.’

‘So you’re only going to go for guys you kind of like?’

‘I’m only going to go with guys who like me back.’ Emma sighs. ‘Though you can’t always tell, can you? I thought Sweetboy was into me. I thought, this is it, he’s the one.’

‘The one?’ Yvonne hears the surprise in her voice and looks away, down to the jewellery box. ‘I didn’t realise you felt that strongly about him.’

‘Neither did I,’ Emma says, ‘until he didn’t call me back.’

Yvonne hands Emma a matching pair of earrings.

‘But when I think back, it’s obvious what kind of guy he is; a proper player. A few times I felt like he was checking out other girls when I was with him. He was even kind of flirtatious with you.’

‘I don’t think so.’

Emma laughs, ‘Are you serious? You didn’t notice? You’re so oblivious.’

Yvonne clears her throat, desperate to change the subject. ‘Do you really have to go out now? The landlord is on his way over. I hate being alone in the house with him.’

Emma sprays a cloud of Tommy Girl and walks into it. ‘Merv the Perv? He’s harmless. Besides, he doesn’t need to know you’re here alone, tell him Bethany is upstairs sleeping.’