‘No, babe,’ he sighed. ‘It’s not a stalling technique. I’m just surprised, confused, maybe, I don’t know why you’d need to know that.’ Maybe because you needed to know when I was the one scoring a hot date? I wanted to point out the hypocrisy of it all, but I wasn’t about to derail my own interrogation. ‘Okay. Okay sure, she’s a girl I met on Tinder. We said we’d go for a drink and we happened to be leaving work at the same time, and …’ He rubbed at his forehead and swallowed so hard that I heard a glug in his throat. ‘And I forgot that you and I had plans. I told the lads I’d be late home, that I was out for dinner, and then I went to meet the girl.’ He grabbed both of my hands in his, then, and I wanted to pull away. ‘It, she, all of this, it doesn’t mean anything, Edi. Remember? It’s just us messing around and flexing our muscles and ourselves and—’

‘How many girls have there been?’

‘Girls that I’ve dated, or like, had a date with?’

He was nervous. I recognised the sly looks to the side; the audible dry mouth; the near crack in his voice straight down the centre of his question. And I actually laughed – but only lightly. ‘No, Rowan. I think I’m asking how many girls you’ve slept with.’

‘Edi …’ He paused and took a deep breath. ‘I don’t think I understand.’

‘Did I stutter?’

He laughed. ‘No, I mean … Isn’t this what we agreed to? We’re meant to be out with other people, we’re allowed to be, and sleeping with other people, we even put that in the ground rules for all of this, when we first started it. Didn’t we? I mean, I didn’t … I didn’t imagine that part? So, the ghosting me thing, is that about me double-booking you, really, or is it about me sleeping with someone else? Because, babe, I don’t mean this in a shitty way, but if it’s about the second one, then I’m only doing what we said I could.’

What we said I could … I parroted his phrasing back to myself and felt my face fall into a frown. ‘So, if I’m sleeping around that’s fine, too?’

Another laugh. But when I stayed deadpan he suddenly became more serious. ‘Well, are you?’

‘Don’t answer a question with a question. You know it’s bad form.’

‘Okay, then sure.’ He threw his arms up in a defeated gesture. ‘It’s fine if you’re sleeping with other people. This is what we were missing, Edi, this freedom—’