I stumble as he kicks out on the floor, catching the back of my heel.

‘No, Jonas, the train to the moon. Where else? Except we’re currently stuck in a field somewhere in the wilds of Essex. Look, can you make some calls? I don’t have any numbers with me. Hello?’ I twist round as he throws his phone at the opposite wall. It bounces off the steel below the window on to the floor.211

‘Have you got yours?’ he says, blinking desperately up at me. ‘I refuse to believe you would do something so unbelievably clueless as to leave it on the table.’

‘Of course not,’ I say, passing him my phone even though I know it won’t work. It never does out here.

‘What kind of a useless network is this?’ he groans as he stabs at the keyboard.

‘Hang on, it might come back,’ I say. ‘Give it here, come on.’ I know it won’t. I slide to the floor, pulling my knees into my chest to avoid his. Silence descends as I fiddle pointlessly with my phone in between his sighs and groans.

‘Aha,’ he says after a minute, pulling a mangled packet of chewing gum from his pocket. ‘It’s the little things. Here you go, have one.’

He passes me the stub of a packet, a single tab of gum covered in crumpled foil.

‘Thanks,’ I say, turning the tab over and over in my fingers, his gum popping and cracking into the silence. My mind ticks, Carly hovering just around the corner of every mental alleyway.

‘At least she’s asleep,’ he says, jerking his head towards the bobble hat. ‘We could be stuck in here and have to listen to that baby squalling its face off.’

I tighten my arms around my legs, single tab of chewing gum hot in my hand.

‘So tell me, Marie,’ he drawls. ‘Are you visiting Warchester for business or pleasure?’

I shiver, fiddling with my gum as Carly peers around a bend in my mind.

‘You cold?’ He frowns as I shake my head. His gum pops and cracks as he stares.

‘So where do you want to start when we get there?’ I say, shoving Carly back into the fog. ‘Are you happy heading to Victory Field first?’ But as soon the words are out I can see her outline in the distance, a heat haze on the horizon. 212

His eyes narrow as he looks back at me.

‘That depends on how late we are. Who the hell knows how long we’re going to be stuck here. We can hardly afford to fanny around for too long.’

‘We won’t,’ I say. If I rest my cheek on my knees I can avoid his eyes … there. ‘I really think the pubs are the way to go. There’s a ton of them, Britannia this, Gurkha that, all proud military bunting everywhere.’