‘Are you OK?’

‘No, not really.’

‘What’s wrong?’

Claire jabs her finger in the direction of Rob and Jenna’s. ‘People like them. They’re what’s wrong.’ The furious tears that have stalled now come.

‘Claire?’

She shakes her head, swallowing back tears. She can’t tell Pim what Rob has said. If she does, he’ll cause even more of a scene.

‘I just want you to know, for the record, you were absolutely right to defend us against Jenna and Rob. I’m such a people-pleaser, but not this time, Pim. Not this time.’

To her surprise, he folds her into a hug. Then he kisses the top of her head and she breathes in his comforting scent. She presses her ear against his chest, hearing his heartbeat. They share a bed every night, but this moment of intimacy in the day is rare. She’s often in her head about Pim’s faults and shortcomings, but the regular rhythm of his heartbeat is a reminder that he’s just human. And just as he hasn’t taken much notice of her, maybe she hasn’t been taking much notice of him either.

‘What’s happened?’ he asks, pulling away, but his arms are still around her waist, their hips pressed together. This is how they used to stand, she remembers. In days gone by. When they were courting. He’d even stand like this in the pub with her. Always connected.

She explains tearfully about her encounter, making it clear that she doesn’t want Pim to go into battle on her account.

‘Jenna is crazy to turn down your friendship,’ he says. ‘Believe me, she’ll regret it.’

‘Thank you. That means a lot.’

‘You sure you don’t want me to go round there and punch Rob’s lights out? Because I think I would kind of enjoy it. And he’s definitely got it coming.’

She shakes her head. ‘No. But thank you anyway.’

She leans over and grabs some kitchen roll and blows her nose and he sways against her, like he used to do. The very soft prelude to the foreplay from the days when sex was inevitably on the cards. Then he puts his finger on her chin to lift her face to his and they smile at each other. The familiarity of the connection feels at once thrillingly strange and so comfortingly familiar that her heart does a little skip.

She’s missed this. This feeling of them being them. She’s missed it so much. She’s about to say it, when Felix yells from upstairs.

‘Dad. Come and see this!’

He’s on Fortnite and she sees Pim’s eyes light up.

‘Coming!’ he calls back.

She doesn’t want him to go. She loves the feeling of being pressed against him, but even so, she gives him a small nod of permission and he bounds out of the kitchen and up the stairs two at a time.

Claire blows her nose again. She feels better for letting out her frustrations with Rob and that, for once, Pim seemed to understand her point of view.