‘Thanks, mate,’ Dan said, and he hung up. He closed his eyes, because staring at the ceiling made him think of Alison, but then she filled his head anyway, finding a way in, like light seeping under a door. He knew he couldn’t hold on to the anger for much longer, and he dreaded it leaving him, because anger was his only defence.

Back in Stockbridge, it felt like there was no better place on earth. At the pub, Gordon Fuller was his habitual inscrutable self, pulling two pints of heavy for Dan and Duncan without a smile, just a cursory nod as he put them down on the bar, but Dan was seeing comfort and balm in every drab detail of his home town, and Gordon’s impassive face was exactly what he’d expected, even hoped for. John Coltrane was on the sound system playing moody blues, and the pub was only sparsely populated, so they had their pick of tables, but they went straight to their quiz-night corner anyway, without discussion, and sat together on the wooden settle where Katelin and Rose-Ann usually put themselves. There was something about it that nurtured confidences – it always worked on the girls – and now Dan found it a blessed relief to tell Duncan his tale, which he recounted in compelling detail, from the Sheffield beginnings to the infinite sadness of their last day. It took a long time, and when Dan finished, Duncan hesitated then said, ‘I must say, I wish you’d consulted me, I think you overdid it with three Nick Drakes, and, also, what about “Sunshine Superman”? Did you not think about that? Missed a trick there. All the lassies love Donovan.’

Dan looked at him, aghast. ‘Is that all you have to say? My song choices were slightly off?’

‘No, no, no,’ Duncan said, realising what he’d just done. ‘It’s not all I have to say, not at all, it’s just the songs are the best part of the story, awesome – I mean, God, it’s what they were written for.’

‘Dunc, it’s not just a story, mate. It happened, and it happened to me, and it only just happened, right?’

‘Aye, I know,’ Duncan said, ‘I know.’ He took a sip of beer, then he whistled through his teeth and said, ‘You kept a lot to yourself, pal, these past few months.’

‘I did, I’m sorry.’

‘I spilled my guts to you about Lindsay, and all the while you were pining for your first girlfriend and sending love songs to Adelaide?’

‘Well, hang on, I never judged you for falling for Lindsay.’

‘No, but I still felt like the bad guy, and if you’d said you were looking elsewhere yourself … well, it would’ve made a difference.’

Dan said, ‘I wasn’t looking. It just happened.’

‘Yeah, right, you and me both.’