My ears were ringing, jaws grinding. I lifted my phone, refreshed Find My Friends, waited for the GPS to update. Sarah was still in My Aeon – or her phone was. No message.

I flushed the toilet, washed my hands, stared at my reflection: eyeliner smudged, pupils dilated. It was fucking freezing.

In the kitchen, I filled four glasses with water, put them on a tray, returned to the living room.

‘Yeah, I know,’ Mel said. ‘My eyes are flitting all over the place.’

Zac smiled, nodded. ‘It’s hard to believe I was, um, otherwise occupied with a lovely young woman seven or eight hours ago. Feels like a lifetime ago.’

‘What about you?’ I said to Biddy, handing her a glass, winking.

‘Yeah, good.’ She smiled. ‘I feel really good.’ She looked really good, too: flushed cheeks, her new pink hair, her body fighting her skin-tight top, her tight jeans. If not for Mel and Zac I’d have dragged her into the bedroom and begged her not to remind me she was emotionally and physically stronger than me. We could gasp and groan at each other until Sarah came home – if she ever came home …

My phone – no messages.

‘Sarah’s having a big one,’ Zac said, legs crossed on the carpet. ‘Or two.’

I nodded, smiled, could punch his lights out.

‘I’ll give it another half-hour,’ he said. ‘If she’s not home by then, can you tell her I’ll ring tomorrow?’ He looked at his phone.

I tapped at mine – Sarah was still at My Aeon.

Biddy looked at hers buzzing, said, ‘Oh, it’s Win.’

Mel was telling Zac about a book she was reading. ‘But they’re not actually aliens, or human, really …’

‘Oh no,’ Biddy said, laughing. ‘Oh no.’ She covered the phone, whispered. ‘Win’s had an accident.’

‘He OK?’ I asked.

‘I think so. Oh, hang on … Right.’ She looked at me. ‘Can he come here? He’s just around the corner.’

‘Yeah,’ I said.

‘They’re all either married or engaged,’ Mel said.

‘Yeah,’ Biddy said. ‘It’s number forty-five. See you soon.’ She dropped the phone on the sofa, rubbed her nose, laughed. ‘He’s fallen and hurt his face. He’s wasted.’

‘And there are these five different families,’ Mel said. ‘Like a Mafia-style set-up but on Mars …’

I watched Mel, nodded as she spoke, let my mind wend, wander, wanted Biddy’s hand …

‘… and food, yeah, that’s an issue,’ Mel said.

The creak of the garden gate. I stood, heartbeat. Opened the door to Sar–

‘Hey, come in,’ I said, ushering Winford into the hallway, hugging him. A scrape across his cheekbone, skin off his nose.

‘My god,’ Zac said, coming into the hallway with Biddy. ‘What happened to you?’

‘Oh, hello,’ Winford said, perking up. ‘I didn’t realise you had company.’ He stumbled towards Zac, hugged him, tried to kiss him on the lips.

‘Win,’ Biddy said. ‘Be nice.’