The kettle boils and clicks itself off.

‘Would anyone else like anything? Patrick?’ Chloe asks.

There’s a split second before he answers, as if he’s not really here in this room, as if he’s somewhere else entirely.

‘No, no thank you, Chloe.’ Patrick has never been this polite; it’s almost as if he’s a different person now Josie is here, as if he’s under scrutiny. But why?

Chloe watches Josie from under her fringe and she notices that since Patrick spoke Josie’s eyes are now trained on him. Maureen carries on talking, oblivious. But Chloe sees it, the way Josie clutches her handbag a little tighter on her lap, the way she pulls her cardigan more tightly around herself, wrapping her arms across her body. Patrick’s sudden appearance here has changed the atmosphere in the kitchen, thickening the air with tension.

Chloe pours the hot water over the teabag. As the tea brews, she turns her attention to Patrick. He’s leaning against the worktop, his feet crossed at the ankles, and – Chloe now realizes – he has his own arms folded across his chest, mimicking Josie’s body language at the table.

Maureen suddenly stands up, seemingly unaware of the change in the air.

‘I shall have to start getting dinner ready soon,’ Maureen says, crossing the kitchen.

And as Chloe goes to replace the milk in the fridge, she sees the way Josie watches Patrick. She looks away quickly and starts picking up her handbag.

‘Yes, well, I should be getting on,’ Josie says.

‘Oh, really, Jo?’ Maureen says, sounding disappointed. ‘But Pat’s only just got in, won’t you stay for some tea?’

Josie’s eyes again flicker to Patrick, but he’s standing staring down at the floor. ‘Oh, no thanks, Mo, not today. Why don’t you come over to mine next week? We’ll catch up with the girls?’

‘OK,’ Maureen says, ‘that’ll be nice. I’ve been so busy getting this place sorted I—’

‘Don’t worry, everyone understands. It takes a long time to get it how you want it, doesn’t it? But it’s all looking good. You’ll get there.’

‘Oh Josie, are you sure Pat can’t run you back to town?’

Patrick looks at his wife quickly. Chloe notices how he doesn’t offer the same.

‘No, no, I’m perfectly fine on the bus,’ Josie says. ‘Well, goodbye, Mo. Goodbye, Chloe.’

The two women hug on the back door step, and it’s only when Maureen follows her friend out and round to the drive that Patrick seems to grow inside his clothes somehow, standing taller. He takes his seat at the kitchen table, pushing Josie’s cup into the middle of the tablecloth and unfolding his newspaper in the space it leaves.

Maureen comes back into the kitchen, fixing her hair.