‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘How’s London? I thought you might call me, invite me down.’

‘Would you have come? Would you have been able to? That would have been nice,’ I said, after which there was an embarrassing pause. ‘What’s been happening with you?’

‘It’s the same old,’ she said. ‘Have you seen Carl’s dad’s here?’

I turned in the direction she pointed, where I saw Mike sitting on his own and looking at me. I waved and he nodded. The pub was a lot quieter than it had been yesterday – there were plenty of tables left. The lights were bright and there was a crowd of lads hanging around by the fruit machines. Wozza had walked over to the table Emily had chosen, and was leaning over to tell her something.

‘I’ll go and say hi to him,’ I said. ‘I’ll come back here too for a proper catch-up.’

‘Ah, don’t worry. Look after your lass. We’re off to the Euston after this – there’s a band on.’

‘Maybe we’ll come over.’

‘Maybe see you there. Kevin’s back in town though. He gets jealous if he thinks men are trying to chat me up.’

‘Surely men and women in this day and age are allowed to exchange pleasantries.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ she said. ‘You just need to point that out to him.’ On her way to the door she looked over her shoulder and waved at me.

Mike was looking down at his pint when I walked towards him. ‘How are you, Mike?’ I said.

He shrugged. ‘What are you doing here again?’

‘Stuff to do with the house. I brought a mate down to stay there for a few days. How’s the family?’

‘Oh, they’re coping. Janine isn’t so good. All this is a distraction, hey?’ He picked up the ‘Vote Leave’ beer mat lying on the table and tossed it down again.

‘Yeah.’

‘I bet you’re not into it, are you?’

‘Nah.’

‘Why not?’

‘It’s a load of bollocks.’

‘That’s what I thought too. They think we’re going to get our fishing industry back? It’s been dead forty year. Idiots.’

‘Yeah.’

‘You agree, then? That we’re idiots?’

‘Don’t start this, Mike. I don’t think you’re an idiot. I don’t think a lot of people here are idiots.’

‘You’re just being polite. Scared. Go on. Admit it. Admit that we’re all idiots. Idiots like Carl was. Poor fucking idiots.’

‘I better get back to my mate. Carl wasn’t stupid.’

‘His exam results said he was.’

‘Yeah, well.’

‘Poor fucker. He found it hard that you could walk away and he couldn’t. To see life as stark as that. Everyone sorted into two categories.’

‘I had to do some work for those results.’

‘But you liked that work, eh?’

‘Sometimes.’