“It’s open!” she called, embarking on a quest to find something one could drink tea out of.

At the sound of her voice, there was a joyous bark from the hallway outside the flat. Then her front door swung open and a big, beautiful golden retriever bounded in. Tail going a mile a minute, the dog made a beeline for the tiny kitchen area and butted her head lovingly against Mika’s legs, demanding immediate attention. Mika obliged, crouching to ruffle, nuzzle, kiss, and squish her much-loved companion.

“I missed you, too, Circe,” she said. She straightened, grinning at the young man who’d trotted into the flat on Circe’s overexcited heels. “How was she?”

“The best pup in all of Brighton, as usual,” said Noah, who lived next door. “And as someone who sees just about every ball of fluff in this city on the daily, you know I don’t say that lightly.”

The day Mika had moved in just five months ago, she’d bumped into Noah in the hallway. He was quite possibly the most beautiful man Mika had ever laid eyes on, all glowy dark skin and laughing brown eyes, and he had seemed so instantly enraptured with her that she had spent five idyllic minutes lost in scandalous fantasies . . . before discovering that Noah had been admiring Circe, not her. They’d laughed about it and she’d invited him in for tea and now here they were. Noah, a veterinary nurse, was easily Circe’s favourite dog-sitter.

“Down, Circe,” Mika said now, returning to her doomed quest for a clean cup. Was she going to have to wash one up? She was, wasn’t she? Sigh. “Are you staying for tea, Noah?”

“As if I’d ever turn down a cup of your tea,” he said, but he sounded distracted. Mika glanced up and saw that he was looking around the flat, his brow furrowed. “Where’s all your stuff?”

Mika hated this part, but she’d done it so many times now that the words came easily. “Packed. I’m moving.”

Noah blinked. “You what? When?”

“Friday.”

“This Friday? Why?”

“I have to be somewhere else, so I didn’t see any point in putting it off,” said Mika. “The flat came furnished, just like yours did, so it hasn’t taken me long to pack.”

“You have to be somewhere else?” Noah repeated. “Where?”

She stuck as close to the truth as she dared. “I got a job, but it’s not in Brighton.”