‘I forgot my toast,’ he said, plodding over to the toaster, oblivious to what he’d walked into. ‘I didn’t even pop it down,’ he said, raising his eyes to the ceiling, exasperated at his own forgetfulness. Clive busied himself pulling out plates and cutlery. Minnie watched Greg’s face growing redder by the minute as his eyes followed Clive around the kitchen, willing him to leave.

‘So how’s life, Minnie?’ asked Clive amiably. ‘Business going well, is it?’

‘No, not really,’ said Minnie with a smile. ‘Terribly, in fact.’

‘Oh dear, well at least you’ve got Greg here to cheer you up.’ Clive gave her a double thumbs up. ‘Problem shared is a problem halved and all that.’

‘Actually we just broke up,’ said Minnie.

‘We didn’t break up,’ Greg spat, ‘you were talking about the possibility of breaking up. You haven’t broken up until you’ve both agreed.’ Greg’s hands curled into fists at his sides.

‘I’ve walked into the middle of something,’ said Clive, briskly buttering his toast. Then after a pause he added, ‘Though I’m not sure that’s true, Greg. If Minnie says you’ve broken up, you’ve broken up, I don’t think it needs to be by mutual agreement.’

Minnie nodded.

‘Nobody asked for your legal opinion, Clive!’ Greg shouted. ‘Just take your toast and fuck off.’

Clive drew his lips closed and gave Minnie a wide-eyed sympathetic shrug.

‘Don’t talk to him like that, Greg. I’ll go; there’s nothing more to say anyway.’

Minnie stood up and lifted her handbag from the chair.

‘You really think you’re going to do better than me?’ Greg snarled. ‘Unemployed, thirty, and living at home – you aren’t exactly catch of the century you know, Minnie.’

‘Now that was uncalled for,’ said Clive, putting down his plate of toast and laying a reassuring hand on Minnie’s arm.

‘It’s OK, Clive,’ said Minnie, combing a shaking hand through her hair.

‘No, I won’t have you end it like this. You’re both good people – people break up, they move on; it doesn’t mean you can’t stay friends and it doesn’t mean you have to leave things on a bad note. Come on, sit down.’

Clive pointed to two chairs at the kitchen table. Minnie looked at Greg, who crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked firmly up at the ceiling. She glanced out of the window. It was pouring with rain outside. Part of her just wanted to leave, to call an end to this horrible scene, but another part of her didn’t want to end things like this. This side to Greg – she knew it wasn’t who he was.