‘ID?’ the woman asked.

‘Oh, I—’ Gilly blinked. She hadn’t even thought about the possibility that she might be age-checked. ‘I, um – I left it at home.’

The woman shook her head in one single, definitive movement. ‘We don’t serve alcohol to anyone underage in here.’

‘I’m not underage,’ Gilly protested. ‘I just forgot to bring my ID. It’s not for me, anyway, it’s for Edie. I don’t even like wine.’

The woman crossed her arms. She clearly wasn’t going to budge.

‘I’ll put it back,’ Gilly mumbled, her cheeks flaring red as she picked up the bottle and returned it. She could feel the woman watching her through the security monitor, and felt self-conscious and stupid. Idiot. What if Edie found out she’d been trying to buy wine, and couldn’t? She went to look at the biscuits and chose a fancy box instead. She doubted biscuits and tea would have the same effect as wine, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, could they? Gilly paid for the biscuits with a ten-pound note that the woman insisted on checking rigorously to make sure it wasn’t fake.

‘You think I wouldn’t have ID if I had the facilities to forge legal tender?’ Gilly asked.

The woman looked as if Gilly had made her suck on a lemon.

‘You have a lovely evening now,’ Gilly told her brightly, as she took the box from the counter.

Later, back at Edie’s, she spent some time moving things around in the small front room. Once she’d made enough space, Gilly took two of the chairs that went with the dining table and set them facing each other at a slight angle in the middle of the floor.

‘What are you doing?’ Edie asked, horrified, when she walked in.

‘I’ll put everything back exactly how it was once we’re done, I promise,’ Gilly assured her. She held up the phone Ezra had given her and wiggled it. ‘I took photos to make sure.’

‘That’s not what I meant,’ Edie said, and then pointed at the chairs at the centre. ‘What’s that?’

‘Where I want you to sit. Obviously.’

Edie made a face. ‘They’re too close together.’

‘No, they’re not,’ Gilly said firmly.

Edie stared at the two chairs. ‘You might as well have me sitting in his lap.’

Gilly shrugged. ‘Hey, if that’s what you want to do…’

Edie gave her a look that could have curdled milk still in the cow.

When the knock at the front door came, Edie had vanished upstairs. It was Gilly who let Ezra in.

‘Come in,’ Gilly said, and then, as he passed her in the hallway. ‘You look nice!’

He was dressed in a cream cable-knit jumper and blue jeans, both of which were freshly laundered and left a lingering smell of fabric softener as he passed. ‘I didn’t know what to wear.’

‘That’s perfect, thanks. Can I get you a cup of tea?’

‘There’s wine open,’ said Edie, descending the stairs behind them with imperious flare. ‘I’m going to need one. You can have one too if you want.’