Penny nodded. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I miss him, you know? He was my friend, and then he got so mad at me, and …’

‘Is that all? He was just your friend?’

‘I don’t even know,’ Penny said. ‘I can’t figure it out. I think he is. We’d talk about who I was dating, and who he was dating, but then we kissed and I panicked …’

Charlie added, ‘And then he flew off the handle. Like, he barely spoke before he walked out. Just came for his shifts, made his desserts, and then left. I don’t know how well you two knew him, but that was so weird for him. I’d never seen him like that before.’

‘He didn’t even say goodbye,’ Penny said, suddenly letting out a huge wail of a cry.

Clementine put her arm around her. ‘It’s okay,’ she said, stroking her hair. ‘It’s okay, Pen.’

Rima said, ‘And he’s gone to Italy?’

‘I think so,’ Penny nodded. ‘I don’t know. I feel so, so sad that I hurt him. I think … I think I really did. I think I really hurt him, and I didn’t mean to. I don’t think I’ve been a very nice person …’

Clementine rubbed Penny’s back and Penny closed her eyes, thoughts of Francesco swimming in her mind. It had all spiralled out of control. It had all gotten too dramatic, too crazy. All these men, dictating her fate: her uncle asking her to move in the first place, Thomas walking into the joint and asking her out, Priyesh being at her Christmas party and Francesco showing up on her doorstep and staying. Everyone wanted something from her, and Penny realized she didn’t know what she wanted for herself. She’d been so caught up in everyone else’s needs and wants and agendas, escaping from herself and making a mess of her life, when what she actually needed was to look inward and figure out what was important to her.

‘God, I’m sick of myself,’ Penny proclaimed, finally. ‘If my life was a movie I don’t think it would pass the Bechdel test, you know. All I do is talk about bloody men. Even sat here with you right now – I’m not asking about Stella, or the non-profit, Rima. You and me, Charlie, we should be talking about podcasts and the movies we’ve seen and what we think about the local government. When did I become this person? This woman that only talks about her love life? It’s so uninteresting!’

She was interrupted, then, by Priyesh’s voice sing-songing through from the top bar.

‘Hellooooo,’ he said. ‘Anybody there?’ He appeared in the archway, a bouquet of flowers in hand.

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘You’re having a party and I wasn’t invited?’ He meant it jovially, but he’d misread the mood of the room.