‘Just go away, Barry,’ Connie called in exasperation. ‘You’re spoiling everything.’

‘I love you, Con.’ He pounded on the glass. ‘I can’t live without you.’

‘He’s going to break the window.’ Sasha was losing patience. ‘Go and say something to him, Connie, or I will.’

‘You’re not helping,’ retorted her sister. ‘Barry is hurting.’

‘It’s not always this exciting here, Mr Vaughn,’ Ursula assured him. ‘We’re all quite boring really.’

‘Speak for yourself,’ said her husband.

Sasha followed Connie to the front door, but her sister held up a hand. ‘Do you mind, Sash? You can be like a bull in a china shop.’

Sasha told her in a low voice, ‘Just make sure he leaves.’

‘I don’t think I can do it.’ Connie shook her head. ‘If I go out, he’ll just get more upset.’

‘Right.’ Kev walked towards the door. ‘I’ve had enough of this.’

‘Kev, no.’ Sasha intercepted him. The last time they’d had a party at the house, he’d ended up thumping their former neighbour. ‘Let me handle it.’

Connie placed a proprietorial arm around Vaughn, which was sure to inflame Barry, who was now hunched at the letter box.

‘Barry.’ Sasha opened the front door. ‘You have to go.’

‘She’s in there with him.’ He stumbled towards her. ‘Why’s she done it, Sasha? What’s that copper got that I ain’t?’

A few qualities occurred to her straight away, and then a few more.

‘You need to go home and sober up.’ She saw curtains twitching in the houses across the street and wished he would sod off. ‘I’ll get her to call you.’

‘I’m sleeping on a mate’s couch,’ he told her dismally. ‘I’ve got nowhere to go. I thought she was the one, Sash, I was going to ask her to marry me. I was finally going to make an honest woman of her.’

Barry’s shoulders slumped, and she sensed some of the panic and manic energy leave him. Given another couple of minutes, she was confident she could have encouraged him to go, which is why her heart sank when Vaughn came up behind her.

‘You’re not welcome,’ he told Barry. ‘Connie doesn’t want you here, or Sasha or anybody else. Go away, or I’ll make sure you leave.’

‘Oh yeah, you’ll do what, filth?’ Barry’s upper lip lifted in an angry snarl. ‘Arrest me?’

‘For breach of the peace, if necessary,’ Vaughn told him, his eyes drilling into Barry’s. ‘Yes.’

Barry swigged from the bottle and lurched forward to poke him in the chest. ‘All I want is to see the love of my life, my soulmate, my rock. The one you’re shagging.’

‘I’m not going to tell you again,’ said Vaughn, brushing away the finger. ‘If you’re sensible, you’ll leave right now.’