‘It must be hard, out here alone,’ I said, and she bit her lip, and I thought she was going to tell me something, and I almost had the crazy urge to tell her things back, explain what had brought me here and what had happened to me. Loneliness can make you do mad things. And I thought Suzi was lonely, maybe even lonelier than me. At least I was used to it.

Suddenly she leaped to her feet, phone in hand. I wondered if it had gone off, though I knew it wouldn’t be the message she was hoping for. That would never come. But then I heard the sound of a car in the lane, slowing down as if to stop. It was rare enough that it must be Nick. ‘Crap! It’s almost five! He’s early!’ Fumbling, she set her cup down, splashing brown liquid against the wall. ‘I’m sorry, Nora. I need to explain about the alarm. He’ll do his nut!’ Fumbling, she wrapped her scarf round her neck. ‘Oh God, I’m so forgetful. I meant to ask if you’d join us for dinner on Saturday?’

I made a show of thinking about it, even though I didn’t and wouldn’t have any other plans. The chance to see inside their house, meet the husband – of course I wouldn’t turn that down. ‘That would be nice, thank you. Can I bring anything?’ That middle-class call and response. Then she would say, ‘Just yourself,’ and of course I would bring something anyway.

Suzi played her part, then said, ‘Great! Looking forward to it. You can meet Nick properly.’ Then she ran across the road, not looking to see if there was traffic – there rarely was, but even so – and I thought how light and energetic she was, even pregnant, even sad and afraid. The fire of her hair stood out about the autumn leaves and the hanging shadows of the lane. I saw her run to greet the husband, her hand gesticulations. I imagined what she was telling him – excuses about being locked out, probably. He wasn’t at all what I’d expected. A slight man, barely five foot eight, with a square face and short hair. He wore a Superdry jacket over suit trousers, a tie. The kind of man you’d walk past in the street and hardly notice, and yet Suzi was so afraid of him she’d practically flung her cup down to go to him. Very interesting.

I wiped up the splash of tea turning a pale brown on my white wall. Already I was starting to find out so much about the people next door. I was right – this move had helped me. As my mother used to say, a change is as good as a rest.

Suzi

Suzi