The excitement drained from Zadie’s face. ‘Oh.’

‘What?’

‘No, nothing.’

‘Zadie, I can read your face like a book. Everyone can read your face like a book – you’re the worst liar in the history of the world.’

‘It’s just … Didn’t he take your number and then not text you last term?’

‘Yeah. He did.’

‘And then he only got interested when you started playing hard to get?’

‘Yeah. I guess …’ Chloe said, suddenly feeling less confident.

Zadie pursed her lips for a moment then rubbed Chloe’s knee kindly. ‘But you had fun, that’s what matters. And it’s not like you’re thinking you’re going to marry him.’

‘No. That’s true,’ Chloe said, and gave a small smile in return.

Zadie drained her coffee cup and readjusted herself. ‘Oh, I’ve made you sad. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. The last thing I want is to take the shine off it. If it helps, I lost mine to one of the grounds staff at school – no, don’t look horrified, he was only a year older than me – but then it got around and the school found out and fired him. I felt awful, he was sad, my parents were informed. The whole thing was horrible and I was furious that they’d all stolen the loveliness of it away. And now I’ve done the same thing to you. I’m so sorry.’

Her earnestness would have seemed false on anyone else, but something about the way Zadie spoke made it impossible not to believe every word she said.

‘No, no, not sad. I guess I was just still in my little bubble. I wasn’t thinking about that stuff.’

Zadie wrapped her arms around Chloe, wobbling her coffee cup on the pristine white duvet cover. ‘Think about it. It would have been a disaster if you’d ended up loving him for ever. Who wants to marry the only person they’ve ever slept with?’

Zadie

Max was never around in January. Even when he was at school, he had chosen to go back early so that he could run round the muddy fields, punishing his body for the excess of Christmas. And now that he had the peak of his career in touching distance, he was even worse. Every morning when she woke up he would be long gone, across town at rugby camp, back late and covered in dirt, interested only in a protein shake or, if he was feeling truly punishing, an ice bath. Zadie had been back at uni for a week, but they’d barely spent a waking hour together.