Faith and I were sat up in bed and on our second cup of tea when my mobile hummed on the bedside table. She got to it before I did and handed it over, and even that struck a strange chord. Rowan would have looked.

I hit answer then speakerphone. ‘Morning, Betty.’

‘Who did you go home with last night?’ she asked without missing a beat. She sounded rough with cigarette smoke and singing.

Faith laughed. ‘Morning, Betty.’

‘Oh.’ She spoke away from the phone, then. ‘Nah, she took Faith home … Not like that, you filthy-minded sod.’

‘Lily, is that?’ I asked.

Betty spoke into the phone again. ‘How did you guess? This silly cow rocks up at mine at the arse end of sunrise because she’s managed to lose her keys. It’s a good job I was awake, isn’t it?’

‘Wait, why were you …’ Faith started but petered out. ‘Actually, I don’t what to know.’

‘I was seeing someone out.’

‘He was cute!’

‘Lily says he was cute.’

‘Oh, don’t worry,’ Faith answered, ‘we heard her. Wait, why was Lily up at … Actually, I still don’t want to know.’

‘What are you two doing today?’ Betty asked, then.

Faith and I swapped a look. We hadn’t talked about what we’d do past having a third cup of tea, and maybe going to the café across the road to get egg sandwiches. But if Betty was asking then she likely had something in mind. It can’t be anything too bad, though, I thought, it’s a bloody Sunday after all. Faith wrestled my near-empty mug away from me and slipped out of bed to replenish it.

‘We haven’t really made plans. I don’t—’

‘Cool, we’ll be over in a bit.’

She hit the call end before I could answer. While Faith wasn’t around to see, I clicked into WhatsApp again to check for signs of life from Rowan. He’d texted me in the early hours of the morning, long after I’d passed out with my face pressed into Faith’s back, to say he missed me and he hoped I was okay. I replied first thing – I miss you. Did you go out last night? – but the double-tick hadn’t changed colour yet.

*