‘I’ll drink to that.’ Patrick sipped his wine, and then putting down his glass began to help himself from the dishes. He did not feel particularly hungry, the day had taken away any appetite he had. In fact, if he had not been going to see Kate, he would have got blind drunk.

‘This is the first time I’ve eaten Greek salad with spaghetti bolognese, Kate.’

He shovelled a mouthful of salad in as he spoke.

‘I know. But they complement each other. I think so anyway, and as we’re in my house we’ll eat as I think fit.’

The ice was melted completely now, and they chatted together as they ate. Nothing important or heavyweight, that type of thing could wait for the time being. Tonight was an interval. It was to be the night when Patrick’s trouble and Kate’s involvement in that trouble could be set aside. They were a couple of friends comforting each other.

Patrick ate. He watched as Kate sucked in a piece of spaghetti, and he smiled. He knew that when the pain was gone, he would always associate Kate with his Mandy. He would always think of them together, first Mandy and then Kate. She was the one good thing that had come out of it all. He knew that if he had been left alone tonight he would have cracked. He needed company, but the company of someone he cared about, not a casual sexual encounter. If he had gone for that he would have felt he had cheapened his daughter’s life. Trying to forget her and come to terms with her burial with a stranger, would have been like an insult.

After the meal, when they had taken the remainder of the wine into the lounge, their lovemaking began quietly. Kate allowed her clothes to be removed and lay on the floor with a tapestry cushion beneath her head, watching Patrick undress.

The thrill of watching him started as a heat, deep in her loins, and gradually engulfed her whole body. She saw that he was already aroused and was glad. She wanted no foreplay tonight. She wanted something hard, and sweet, and fast.

When Patrick collapsed on top of her ten minutes later, she felt the tension slipping out of both of them and held him to her breast, stroking his hair, while their heartbeats gradually returned to normal.

‘Oh, Kate, I needed that.’

She kissed him on the mouth, gently at first and then hard, pushing her tongue between his lips.

‘I know that, Pat. I’m glad you came to me.’

Kissing her breasts, he rolled from her and lit them both a cigarette. He lay back on the floor beside her and placed a large glass ashtray on her stomach.

‘Oh, you! That’s cold.’

Patrick smiled and lay back, putting one arm under his head. ‘I ain’t lain on a floor like this for years, have you?’