Oh my God, what’s happened? What’s happened? Jumping up, she sent a wave of soapy water over the back end of the tub, which would no doubt at some point find its way on to the kitchen ceiling. Mario sounded desperate, and terrible thoughts swirled in her mind: Please not the kids! No, no, no! Please not Jake travelling home from Scotland, and please not Natalie, rushing from the gym to home, as she always does, with those bloody earphones in and her eyes on a phone screen . . . How many times have I told her: concentrate when you cross the road! Look up and listen! She grabbed a towel and, with her pulse racing, flung open the bathroom door, her conditioner running in tiny, soapy rivulets down her back. Mario stood on the top stair, his eyes wide. The sight of him in a state of such high agitation only frightened her even more.

‘I got . . .’ He stopped talking and leant on the wall, struggling to catch his breath, ‘I got here as quick as I could – what’s wrong? What’s happened?’ He wiped the sweat from his brow with the flat of his fingers, his eyes searching hers, as if trying to figure out what was wrong.

‘What’s happened?’ she repeated quizzically as her heart stuttered and she tried to figure out the weird situation that was making the air around them crackle. Could this be in response to her text to Craig? Had there been some misunderstanding? ‘Nothing’s happened!’ She too was now leaning on the doorframe. ‘I thought you’d come crashing in to tell me something.’

‘What?’ He narrowed his eyes at her, his breathing a little slower now. ‘What are you talking about, Bess?’

She stared at him, noting he still had the little pencil behind his ear that he used at work for doing the maths for his mixes. He had told her once that he wrote on the walls of the houses he was about to plaster.

‘Have you come home to give me bad news?’ She swallowed.

‘What? No! Me give you bad news? What do you mean?’ Mario shook his head. ‘What the fuck is going on? I was in a new-build on the far corner of the estate and one of the contractors came hammering up the stairs and told me I needed to get home, ASAP! Said Craig had sent him to fetch me.’

‘Oh God, Mario.’ An uncomfortable cold film crept over her skin. She was responsible for this whole horrible misunderstanding and she was going to have to come clean. She didn’t relish the thought. Wrapped in embarrassment, her mouth ran dry and her tummy flipped. ‘I sent Craig a text . . .’

‘You sent Craig a text saying what?’

‘I can’t remember exactly, but nothing urgent, just asking if you’d give me a call.’ Her voice was small.