‘That’s the thing though,’ Penny said. ‘It hasn’t gone away. It’s … changed. We hang out a lot and talk and laugh, but it’s friendship. It’s a really beautiful friendship. And I need that. It was lonely up there. I miss London something crazy. It’s hard enough that I need a friend on my side, and that’s what he is. I couldn’t do it without him.’

‘Mmmmmm,’ uttered Stuart, unconvinced. ‘You just sound greedy to me.’

Backstage, there were dancers and crew, other guests and a handful of celebrities.

‘F-me, I think that’s Blue Ivy!’ Stuart hissed. ‘Look!’ They were both beside themselves with excitement. It was all terribly glamorous, with dancers and celebrities and hangers-on milling about everywhere, and access to as much champagne as they wanted.

Penny spun around. ‘With Solange! Damn. Be cool. Be so cool.’

Solange and Blue Ivy walked past them, Solange making eye contact long enough to say, ‘Hey, how are you,’ but not as a question.

Penny turned to Stuart and did a fake scream face, making him laugh hysterically, at which point Thomas turned a corner and clocked her.

‘Good scream face or bad scream face?’ he said, amused.

‘Hey, you!’ Penny said, going in for a hug to his kiss so that they ended up in a physical touch mis-match. ‘Oh, sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m so clumsy. Ha.’

Extracting her limbs from his, Penny pulled away awkwardly and said, ‘This is Stuart, who is looking after the café for me this year.’

‘Hey,’ Thomas said, shaking his hand.

‘This is so awesome,’ Stuart said. ‘Thanks so much for the invite.’

‘Of course,’ Thomas said. ‘Any friend of this one is a friend of mine.’ He winked at Penny. Stuart saw and looked to Penny for her reaction. She swooned.

‘Well,’ Thomas continued. ‘There’s a green room just down this corridor,’ he gestured to where he’d come from. ‘Lizzo will come by and say hi after the show. For now she’s in vocal warm up in her dressing room.’

‘We’ll get to meet her?’

‘You will,’ Thomas said. ‘But,’ he lowered his voice. ‘Is it cool if you don’t tell her how we know each other? You know – that we hooked up. Just say you’re a friend from back home, yeah?’

‘Right …’ said Penny, feeling uncomfortable at the instruction. Before she could ask why, exactly, Lizzo had to be shielded from the truth of their relationship, a woman dressed all in black and carrying a clipboard and a walkie-talkie interrupted to whisper something in Thomas’s ear.

‘I’ve got a fire to put out,’ he said, when she’d finished. ‘If you’ll excuse me?’ He went to give Penny a kiss on the cheek. ‘Enjoy the show, guys. I’ll find you after.’

Penny and Stuart looked at each other once he’d gone. Neither spoke.