‘Is that your family?’ he asked.

‘Yes, my mum and dad. And me when I was a kid. But, of course, as I told you, my parents broke up last year.’

‘Oh yeah, I remember. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happened with mine, to be honest.’ He nodded towards the newspaper. ‘I guess you read all about it?’

‘I did, yes. He seems like a bit of a shit, your father.’

‘He can be. But he’s okay most of the time.’

‘A bit like you, then,’ she said.

‘You think I’m okay most of the time?’

‘Or maybe I think you’re a bit of a shit.’

‘Ha ha,’ he said nervously, feeling a little uncomfortable with how this was going so far. He preferred it when he was more in control of the situation.

‘So I came prepared,’ he said finally.

‘Prepared for what?’

‘For … you know. For tonight. For us.’

‘That was very forward-thinking of you.’

‘Not that I think it’s just my responsibility. I’m not making decisions for you.’

She smiled. ‘You’re so Woke,’ she said.

‘Ha ha,’ he said again.

‘You seem nervous.’

‘Do I?’

‘Yes.’

‘No, not really.’

‘You seem it.’

He shrugged. ‘It’s just … is there something wrong?’ he asked. ‘You seem like you’re … I don’t know … judging me or something.’

‘And if I was, what kind of verdict would I come to, do you think?’

‘That I’m a charming, funny, good-looking boy who you want to ravage over and over until the sun comes up?’

She laughed and looked away. ‘Well, you know what they say,’ she replied. ‘Hope springs eternal.’

He stood up and made his way over to the photographs, planning on examining them for a few moments before pulling her to her feet and kissing her.

‘So what went wrong between your parents?’ he asked, looking at a picture of her when she was just a little girl, all pigtails, dimples and happy smile. ‘Or would you prefer not to talk about it?’

‘I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘My dad cheated on my mum.’

‘Fucker.’

‘Actually, that’s not quite true. He didn’t cheat on her. He just planned on doing so.’

‘Oh, well, that’s not so bad, is it? At least he thought better of it.’

‘I don’t think it was entirely his choice. The person he was seeing … well, my father was being taken advantage of.’

‘In what way?’

‘In a financial way.’

‘Bummer.’

‘Mum found out and the marriage ended, just like that. Dad said he was just going through a mid-life crisis but, you know, there was no way back for them afterwards.’

‘They didn’t go for counselling?’

‘The thing is, he wasn’t seeing a girl. He was seeing a boy.’

‘Ah. Yes, that’s hard to come back from.’