‘Stew wouldn’t notice if I wandered in wearing nipple tassels and a crotchless thong,’ I said. ‘He’s not fussed about that stuff, you know?’

A flicker of concern crossed her face before she smoothed her expression and met mine with a smile. ‘You two will work it out. You always do.’

‘Yeah,’ I agreed, giving my greying bras one last look before turning out the bedroom light and leading her back downstairs. ‘We always do.’

Even though I was more than half asleep when the key turned in the lock, I snapped to my senses straight away. The TV was off, Netflix had given up on me hours ago, and when I blinked at the clock on the mantelpiece, the time was almost midnight.

‘You’re still up.’

Stew walked in, bleary eyed and clutching the door to keep himself steady.

‘Sort of,’ I replied, rolling out of my hedgehog ball and folding my arms across my chest. Immediately, I uncrossed them. Too much aggression and too much of a cliché. ‘I thought you’d be home earlier, I was getting worried.’

‘Phone died, I was so busy today I forgot to charge it before practice. The lads wanted to get a pint after all. Sorry.’

‘You don’t have to apologize for going out,’ I said, even though I was glad he had. ‘I just wish you’d texted me. Chris and Kaush have got my number, I was halfway to thinking you were dead in a ditch.’

He rubbed his hand over his face and winced. ‘Yeah, they didn’t go to the pub, it was some of the other lads. Like I said, I’m sorry.’

‘Well, you missed out on a good pizza,’ I said lightly. Some of the other lads? Which other lads? ‘Did you get my text before your phone died?’

‘No?’

‘Right.’ I sat up and wrapped his nana’s blanket around me. Almost everything in the house belonged to Stew’s nana because it was Stew’s nana’s house. He’d inherited it three years earlier which was why we’d moved back up to Sheffield in the first place. Well, one of the reasons we’d moved back up to Sheffield. ‘I got an interview today.’

‘Fran,’ he groaned, stretching out my name as long as he could without running out of breath. ‘I’m so knackered. Can we talk about it tomorrow?’

‘Not really because the interview is tomorrow.’

He started treading down the heels of his trainers, still clinging to the doorframe to keep him upright.

‘And it’s in London.’

‘Why would the interview be in London?’ he asked, looking perplexed.

‘Because the job is in London?’ I replied with a weak smile. ‘But it’s just five days, I’d be back on Tuesday, and the money is amazing and—’

His confusion shifted into something sour.

‘Why are you chasing another assistant job? I thought we’d decided you were going to apply for the teacher training at Hallam?’