‘Inside.’ He still doesn’t move. When he speaks again, his thoughts aren’t really a logical response, but his tone is a little mollified. He’s been listening, even though he’ll never admit it. Ruth has always been the disaster, after all, not him. It’s hard for him to concede the role of strong sibling, even for a conversation in front of a bonfire in the dark. ‘Yeah, well, just don’t start the forgiveness crap with me, okay? He doesn’t deserve it.’

‘No,’ she says, ‘but we do.’

I wait for another sarcastic response from Andrew but instead he puts his arm round her shoulders and she leans her head against him for a moment, just briefly, before they move apart again – neither of these two is good with physical contact of any sort, that much is obvious, and I’m pretty sure they are always going to bicker like crazy.

There is another silence, then Ruth says, ‘You still seeing Danny?’

‘Nah,’ he replies. ‘Haven’t seen him in ages.’

‘You know,’ she says, ‘I was walking to work the other day, along Eye Road, and I passed two women and one was saying to the other, they’ve chosen the name, it’s something or other, then a lorry went past at that point and I didn’t catch what the name was, baby I presume, might have been a dog but I think it was a baby. So she said, they’ve chosen a name, then she added as I walked past them, but they’re calling her Ella for short.’

The bonfire makes a crackle and they watch it.

‘Thing is, what do you reckon Ella is short for?’

Andrew presses his lips together and frowns, looks up at the sky. ‘I dunno, what do you think?’

‘Elementary?’ Ruth suggests.

Andrew puts his head on one side and frowns, giving it some thought. ‘Elephant?’

The flames die down and drop, the fire still glows. Then Ruth says decisively, as if it settles the matter, ‘Umbrella.’

*

There is one more stop to make before I head back to the station.