‘Seems they had a row and she told him to take a running jump.’ Flynn laughed. ‘I suppose she didn’t expect him to take her literally.’

‘Must have been hard for her, bringing you up on her own.’

‘Yes, he never paid anything towards my care and when she tried to chase him for it, she couldn’t find a sign of him. Social services tried too but wherever he’d gone he was out of their reach.’

They were sitting on the sofa, the lights out, Jodie’s head on Flynn’s shoulder. When she heard his soft, ‘What about you?’ she thought it was time for the truth… or at least a version of it. ‘My dad died of cancer when I was thirteen, so it was just Mum and me. When I was twenty, she had a heart attack. She never recovered and my world fell apart.’ She felt his arm tighten around her and took a deep breath. A version of the truth. It would do. ‘I got pregnant but didn’t feel able to keep the baby and give him the life he deserved, so I gave him up for adoption.’

She felt Flynn move, then the touch of his lips on her hair.

‘That was a very brave decision and can’t have been easy.’

Jodie heard the echo of her cries, her begging words, felt again the wrench at never having seen the child she’d borne. ‘No, it wasn’t easy but it was for the best.’ She knew she’d given the impression she’d had the baby when she was older, after her mother died. Not as a child, too young to understand the repercussions, but enough to feel loss. She tensed, waiting for him to ask if she had any regrets.

But instead of asking about the past, Flynn caressed her neck with his fingers and said, ‘Are you in touch with your son?’

‘No, the family who adopted him moved abroad and there was no contact. Anyway, I wanted a clean break, it seemed fairer.’ The lie came easily, as it always did. She was an expert in lying to herself and it appeared she wasn’t too bad at lying to others either. But now that Flynn knew most of it she could put it behind her. Someday, if they lasted, she might tell him the rest of her story. And about Victor. Maybe.

‘I–’ Flynn started, a frown creasing his forehead.

Jodie held her hand up to stop him. ‘Sorry, do you mind if we don’t talk about it anymore.’

He looked for a moment as if he was going to argue, but then shook his head. ‘Another day.’

She got to her feet and held out her hand. ‘We’d better get some sleep.’ She tilted her head. ‘I bet you must work some weekends.’