I squirmed. What did he know?

‘I’m not in need of your programme,’ I said, attempting a joke.

We moved in a circle, dancing around each other as I tried to target the pads. And then the idea struck, a little white lie would make this easier.

‘There’s a guy.’

Jason raised his eyebrows and chuckled. ‘There’s always a guy!’

Too out of breath to talk and punch at the same time, I sank to the mats and proceeded to tell Jason about a man I’d met in a bar. I knew he was a member of Pulse gym and in a mad moment I’d signed up. I explained that even though it wasn’t anywhere near as good as Jason’s club, and I missed boxing, I couldn’t afford both.

‘Hey, I was never going to charge you in the first place, remember? You insisted.’

‘I know, I know, but it’s not fair to come in for free. You’re a business after all, and I can’t be in two places at once.’

Jason rubbed his chin, black stubble starting to poke through.

‘You’re not working, right? Ben said you worked in an office before. How about you come and work here? I could do with some help. I’ve got no clue about accounts, marketing, promotion, that kind of stuff. There’d be a bit of the maintenance of the gym too, of course, we’d all have to pull our weight, but I want to turn this into something big. Especially if I’m going to get funding for an outreach programme.’

I grinned, watching Jason’s eyes light up. He had just made my day. ‘That sounds amazing.’

‘Okay, let me work out some numbers. It won’t be the kind of salary you had, so don’t get your hopes up.’

‘I won’t. I can’t do anything until the end of November anyway, as technically I’m still working my notice.’ The idea sounded perfect, perhaps I could even do a personal training qualification on the side? I was sure I’d have to subsidise my earnings with some waitressing or something, but getting the chance to work in a job I enjoyed, that would be brilliant.

After finishing at the gym, I picked up my prescription for more diazepam from the chemist en route to my second appointment with Doctor Almara. I’d run out a few days ago but kept forgetting to collect them. I was getting anxious about them wearing off and was pleased when I got two months’ worth this time with an appointment reminder before any more would be prescribed.