‘It was. And it was tough.’ It felt good to say that. It wasn’t lost on Penny that for somebody who’d minutes ago said she didn’t like to talk on the phone, it suddenly felt really good to be chatting to Francesco. That was the thing about him, she contemplated – all the rules she thought she had were increasingly not applicable. Stuart had said as much, too. He’d basically accused Penny of self-sabotaging every relationship she had by withholding information or affection and then blaming the other person for it not working out. It was a surprisingly insightful observation for him to make, and it had made Penny’s blood boil for about ten seconds before she felt a wave of acknowledgement rush over her. What Stuart had said had some truth. She could begrudgingly admit that. Penny could hear the shouts of lively teenagers in the background as she waited for Francesco’s reaction. She put a cushion behind her head and stretched out across the sofa.

‘I can’t begin to imagine,’ he said, as the noise behind him died down. ‘Do you mind talking about it?’

‘I can’t say it’s all that thrilling.’

‘Well, one day, I want to know everything about you.’ He always seemed to know the right things to say. Penny felt relieved that she didn’t have to share any more, as well as a vague sense of gratitude towards Stuart that she’d shared at least a little bit. ‘But for now,’ he carried on, ‘tell me where you are, right this second. This bus ride home is freezing and I need the entertainment.’

Penny looked around. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I’m sat on my couch with a bottle of water – hydration station over here – and the remote is in my hand because I’ve been watching movie trailers instead of picking an actual movie, and I lit a very luxurious not one but two candles. Different fragrances, too. It’s called layering apparently.’

‘Sounds snuggly.’

‘It is. I’m very good at snuggly. You could even go as far as to call me the Queen of Snuggly-Ville.’ She pulled the blanket off the arm of the nearby chair and put it over her legs so that she was even snugglier.

‘And how does one get the opportunity to visit Snuggly-Ville?’

‘Oh, well, it’s incredibly difficult to get in. Very exclusive.’

‘Do you want company? Somebody to do nothing with?’

Penny sat upright. Her hair was unwashed and she was hardly dressed to impress.

‘I mean, I’m going to be very boring company,’ she said. ‘But … I do kind of want to see you.’