‘Delightful,’ Dani muttered under her breath.

She carried on to her apartment and when she’d stepped inside and locked the door behind her she leaned against the wall and let out a long sigh. After taking off her shoes – with great relief – Dani stripped off her work clothes and slung on her pyjama bottoms and a hoodie. Then she went to look for more medicinal relief. She opened the bathroom cabinet and stood there staring at the bottles.

In the end she decided against it. She’d had plenty for one day. She wanted something else. She moved to the kitchen. In the fridge was a bottle of wine she’d put there the previous night but not opened. On her meds she was ok to drink, but knew that her alcohol tolerance was seriously diminished. Consuming too much, she’d been told over and over, was yet another factor that drastically increased the risk of her having seizures.

Putting better judgment to one side she took the bottle out and found the corkscrew. As she was taking the cork out she recalled a documentary she’d seen not long ago where overweight and unfit couples were put through the wringer over their diets and exercise regimes. One couple had got into the habit of sitting in bed together every night with a bottle of wine each, not talking to each other, just drinking – him straight from the bottle and her from a protein shaker. Dani had thought their routine was both sad and weird and more than bordering on casual alcoholism, but all of a sudden she could see the appeal.

In the end though, Dani opted for a regular wine glass and only half-filled it with wine. She was still standing in the kitchen, enjoying the first sip, when there was a knock on the front door. Dani frowned and put the glass down. The outer doors to the apartment block were securely locked so visitors had to use the video intercom to gain entry. Perhaps it was Mrs Miller?

Dani walked back through from the kitchen to the front door and peered through the peephole.

Jason. What the hell was he doing there? And how had he got into the building? Dani wondered whether she should just wait it out and see if he disappeared, but after a few seconds he reached forwards and knocked again.

‘Dani, I know you’re in there.’

Dani cursed under her breath but she knew the best thing to do was just to open the door and get this over and done with. She did exactly that before she could talk herself out of it.

Jason smiled when he first saw her, before frowning as he looked down at her pyjamas and hoodie.

‘What do you want, Jason?’ Dani said, sounding harsher than she’d intended.