‘Yeah, you said.’ I check my phone again. Thank God. Derek is three minutes away.

‘You’re always seeing things the wrong way! Right – bloody hell, you walk fast. Look, I’m going to say something, and I want you to listen. Actually listen. I don’t want you to say you don’t believe me, or throw it back in my face, or twist it, or say it’s only because of this, that or the other, or some other crap you like to come spouting out with – which is one of the reasons I’m going to say this, actually – that you’re a colossal, infuriating pain in the arse, yet somehow …’ I dare a sideways look at him and he gives me a sheepish grin. I jerk my head frontwards again. ‘I’m going to say this, and I want you to listen and then you can go away to whatever this mysterious appointment is, and you can think about it. But don’t take too long, OK? Because there’s less life left for us both than there’s already been, you know? So, I want to say this and then, well, we’ll see. OK?’

‘OK.’ I don’t mean it. I just want him to stop talking.

‘So, just please stop a minute!’

‘I don’t want to stop.’

‘Would you just stop?’ He turns and grabs both of my arms, not tight, but determinedly, and we come to a halt, on the pavement. A man with a messenger bag almost crashes into us. A boy on a scooter goes into cruise mode to avoid us, muttering, ‘Bloody idiots.’ Kemp’s hair is damp on his forehead but his eyes are shining.

‘I love you.’

‘Oh, fuck off, Kemp!’

He laughs, astonished. ‘“Fuck off!” I tell you I love you and that’s all you’ve got to say to me?’ He is looking right in my eyes with ones I once wanted to drown myself in.

‘Yes, it is,’ I say. The touch of his fingers are hot on my arms. I want to shake them off, but I don’t want to.

‘Well, then I’ll tell you again.’

‘Go on, then.’

‘I love you.’ The notification beep – Uber – goes off on my phone but I ignore it. Well, I don’t ignore it completely – I look down quickly to see that Derek is two minutes away. ‘Do I need to say it again?’

‘Probably.’ I look up, stare at the half-pearl shell of his necklace, on its leather cord, for a moment, then I decide I will shake him off and I carry on walking again, my mind racing faster than my feet.