Amy bustled around my kitchen as I looked on, slicing the French stick and placing it in the bread basket. I sat, redundant. They moved around each other with ease. It made my throat tighten, I refilled my glass and swallowed a large gulp of wine.

‘So, what have you been up to, Amy?’ I asked, trying to generate a conversation.

‘Work has been hectic, hardly any down time. All work and no play,’ she said, reaching for Ben’s hand. ‘I don’t see Ben as much as I’d like.’ She frowned at him and stuck out her bottom lip like a child. I held in a snigger.

‘It’s the shift work,’ Ben interjected, but I knew that already. I barely saw him either. It was one thing Amy and I had in common. Maybe the only thing.

Ben delivered the bowls to the table and my appetite arrived on cue as soon as it was placed in front of me. I scooped up the stew with crusty bread slathered in butter, it tasted delicious.

‘Do you work in security too?’ I asked.

‘Yes, I’m the head administrator for the South East, I have to do all of Ben’s paperwork for the warehouses. Make sure licences are up to date, insurances, rental agreements, that kind of thing.’

‘Sounds busy.’

Amy nodded, her mouth full.

‘How’s Jason?’ Ben asked, dipping his bread in his bowl too.

‘Fine, working me hard. Says he wants to get together for beers and he’ll text you,’ I said, listening to the conversation that followed as Ben told Amy who Jason was. I concentrated on eating, zoning out momentarily and chewing blissfully. I thrust the incident with Ian to the back of my mind. I could dissect it later. Amy’s voice blurred into the background. It wasn’t until Ben refilled my almost empty glass my focus returned, and I tried to get back in on the thread of the conversation.

‘So, we don’t know how much we can afford, but looking around at the estate agents online, we might be,’ Amy chimed.

‘I’m sorry, what?’ I butted in. Silence fell over the table and they both stopped to look at me.

‘Not straight away, there’s no rush,’ Ben said, before his eyes returned to his bowl.

‘But we’ll see more of each other if we live together.’ Amy smiled but had her jaw clenched tightly. She placed her hand on Ben’s arm as if in ownership and narrowed her eyes at me.

‘You’re moving in together? Isn’t it a bit soon?’ I said, incredulous. I meant to provoke, and she bit, as I knew she would.

‘Why shouldn’t we?’