‘Really? I’ve just put the pie in,’ Quinn’s face fell.

‘I have to go,’ she said, ‘I can get the Tube.’

Minnie suddenly needed to be far away from Quinn. What was she even doing here? She knew it wasn’t his fault, that it was ridiculous to compare her life with his, but something about the fact that they’d started life on the same day, in the same place, just made her current situation feel all the more pathetic.

‘I’ll drive you,’ he said.

She shook her head, she could feel a flush creeping up her neck, the telltale sign that she was about to cry.

‘Has something happened? Is there anything I can do?’

‘Well, my business is bust and now I have to go to work on Monday and work out how to close it down, so no, there’s nothing you can do.’

Minnie dropped her eyes to the floor; she couldn’t look at him. Why had she told him that? She sensed him taking a step towards her, she felt he might be about to hug her. For a moment her body tingled in anticipation, hoping for him to put his arms around her. Then her body tensed, angry with herself for feeling this primal urge to be hugged. Besides, Quinn wasn’t even her boyfriend; if she wanted to sink into anyone’s arms (which she didn’t, there would be no pathetic arm-sinking), it should be Greg’s. Shit, she really needed to call Greg.

‘But your pies are great? People love them, surely there’s a way—’ Quinn started to talk but Minnie cut him off.

‘Yeah, but in the real world we have to take loans to start a business, loans with massive interest on them, and if we have a month with fewer orders or we have to buy a new door for the oven, then we don’t have much margin for error,’ Minnie said through gritted teeth. ‘It’s not like in your world where you just get money from your family to set up whatever business you like and probably never even deal with a bank. I mean, look at this place!’

Minnie flung out her arm to illustrate the point. In doing so she knocked over one of the china lamp-stands and it flew off the side table, smashing onto the floor. The room was silent. Minnie stared at the broken shards. The light bulb blinked, made a quiet fizzing sound, and then died.

‘Oh shit,’ Minnie said under her breath.

She looked up to see Quinn’s face had turned ghostly. Tara came running into the room. When she saw the lamp, she started hyperventilating.

‘Don’t touch it, don’t touch it, you’ll cut yourself!’ She started shaking her hands, her eyes bulging in panic. ‘Quinn, there’s broken china everywhere.’