‘You’ve been bottling all this up?’

She nods.

‘Anything else?’

‘Yes,’ she says, standing up too. It’s now or never. She has to get it all out. ‘You know we haven’t spontaneously snogged for … for so long, I can’t remember when it was. You used to kiss me all the time. Even when the boys were little.’

She feels fluttery inside, saying these words. His eyes are large and focused on her.

‘And I’m not blaming you. I’m to blame too, but life got in the way, didn’t it, and we stopped trying?’

She feels the tears she longs to shed choking her, but she’s determined not to break down. A stray tear falls anyway, and she swipes at it, angrily.

‘Claire,’ Pim says, gently.

‘And I don’t want to get emotional about this stuff. I don’t want you to think that I’m just some menopausal, hormonal mess. Because I might be that at times, but I’m not all the time. And certainly not now. I’m just trying to tell you how I feel and it’s hard, because I haven’t told you for so long.’

‘I’m sorry.’ He walks towards her. ‘I had no idea.’

‘You must feel it too? That we’ve drifted away from us. That we’ve drifted away from what made us so great. Because we were great, Pim. Really great.’

‘I know.’ He’s standing in front of her now and she sees that he’s hearing her.

‘I get that there’s been a pandemic, and everyone has found everything hard,’ she says, ‘but I don’t want us to lose each other.’

‘Neither do I.’ He holds her hands and rubs the wedding band around her finger. ‘How do we fix it?’

‘By talking. By making plans. Discussing dreams.’

‘I don’t know if I have any dreams any more. I feel like they’ve been beaten out of me.’

‘Then let’s make some. Let’s do what we used to do and think about all the things we could be. And how we live our life so we grow together, not apart.’

He nods. ‘I’d like that. But I’m worried that I’ve forgotten how.’

She touches his face. ‘You haven’t forgotten. You’re Pim. My dreamer.’

And, as she stares into his eyes, she sees how vulnerable he is and how scared and she understands the barriers they’ve both put up, just to get through the terror of the world changing around them. But this is her Pim – the man who was prepared to turn his back on his own family for love. He’s her rock and she might have drifted away from him, but now she feels the pull of him stronger than ever.

She steps towards him and he folds her into his embrace.

‘I’ve missed you,’ he whispers and suddenly her tummy flips in anticipation because she knows he’s about to kiss her.

Behind them the door opens and Pim pauses. It’s Ash.

‘Gross,’ Ash says, staring at them.

Pim gives him a look and he backs through the door, which Pim reaches out to kick shut with his foot.