A few hours later, Darcy is standing at the door to Ed’s apartment trying to work up the courage to knock. After her successful day at work she figured she’d try to smooth things over here. Her plan had been to show up with Chinese, hoping that everything would go back to normal. But standing here now, her insides are twisted, her throat dry, and it feels far from any normal she’s ever experienced with Ed. She’s never been nervous to see him before. Maybe she should go home and just send a text. She turns abruptly to leave and sees Ed walking down the hall, arriving home.

‘You didn’t knock?’

She gives a shake of the head, feeling a little stupid. ‘You haven’t called.’ She’s defensive, hoping it masks some of the sadness in her voice, but it undoubtedly shakes as the words slip from her mouth.

‘Neither have you.’ He turns the keys over in his hand, the rattling sound the only noise in the hall.

Well no, she’s hasn’t. Has he been waiting for her to make contact? She wants to tell him she’s been busy, that The One has been somewhat hellish to work on and that she broke up with Drew, but she feels like if she says either of those things he’ll think she hasn’t thought about him. Because that would be a lie. She’s thought about him every day.

‘You got Mongolian lamb in there?’ He gestures to the takeaway bag from the Chinese place on the corner.

She nods. ‘Honey prawns too.’

‘I was going to make a salad, but I guess you could come in and I could help you eat it?’

Darcy cracks a smile, knowing full well that he had no plans to make a salad. ‘I’d like that.’ She moves out of his way so he can unlock the door and feels an unexpected desire to reach out and touch him. Before the kiss it would have been normal for them to hug hello but she’s pretty sure that any form of physical contact is going to seem weird or at least become overanalysed. So she fights the urge, forcing her arms to remain stiffly by her side.

Ed switches on some lights and moves to the kitchen, grabbing bowls and cutlery. As they begin dishing up the takeaway he makes a comment about how nice the weather has been, and Darcy finds herself in a horrible small-talk situation that feels so unnatural with her best friend. She should have brought some wine; this conversation would be much easier with her hand wrapped around a vino. ‘You got any wine?’

Ed frowns. ‘I’m on a detox.’

‘What?’ This is new. Ed is not a detox kind of guy.

He shrugs. ‘It was getting bad so I’m cutting myself off for a month.’