Chloe arrives at the glass building that houses the insurance company an hour before Patrick is due to collect her that afternoon. The last thing she wants is for him to catch her getting off the bus and hurrying across the road towards the office. When she walked by the other day, she noticed that there was a small cafe in the atrium on the ground floor, complete with a couple of chairs and tables spilling out of it. She arrives early and goes inside. She had worried, of course, about bumping into Phil again, but she figured the chances were slim and, anyway, she could always say she had a second interview.

At reception, a woman dressed like an air hostess with a silk scarf round her neck asks if she can help. Chloe points towards the cafe, and she nods, smiles and waves her forward.

Chloe buys a KitKat and a can of Diet Coke then sits there, in her winter coat, in the atrium, her bag at her side. A copy of the local newspaper peers out the top of her bag, but she resists reading it and instead sits staring out at the road, waiting for the first flash of Patrick’s blue car.

Chloe doesn’t want to get in that car. She hasn’t wanted to get into it all day. Not tonight, not on her own. Not without Maureen. Chloe has a thought that maybe Maureen has changed her mind and come along with him for the ride. How relieved she would be if they pulled up and Maureen was sitting alongside him in the front, ready to collect her. And then she stops and ponders on that image, how happy it would have made her not so long ago to have a mum and dad driving to pick her up from work. She always promised herself she wouldn’t take a proper family for granted.