With all that out of the way, we have dinner – prawn curry and a million side dishes, all prepared by Rich, who is a brilliant cook – and spend the rest of the night talking about the plot of a film we’ve all watched on Netflix. By the time we get home, I’m so full of curry and wine I feel like I have to be rolled upstairs to bed.

Chapter Thirty-One: Jess

Chapter Thirty-One

Jess

11th September

The next morning, so early that the birds are only just starting to stir and the streets are quiet and empty, I kiss James goodbye on the doorstep. I don’t remember him getting into bed after he jumped in the shower when we got home. I think I was so full of food I basically passed out.

‘I’ll see you later,’ he says, curling a hand into my hair and pressing a final kiss on my forehead.

He’s reliable, he’s handsome, he’s solvent, and he calls when he says he will. My God, he reminds me of that Taylor Swift song. And my friends love him. I think of Alex for a second and then shake my head.

He’s basically the perfect boyfriend. I watch him striding down Albany Road, turning to wave goodbye before he disappears out of view.

I turn around and head back upstairs. There’s a moment when I pause outside my bedroom, one hand on the door, and I look across at Alex’s door. I wonder if he’s asleep, or if he’s lying staring at the ceiling like I used to when he was sharing a bed with Emma. I shake myself. Of course he’s not.

Alex

I put a hand up to lift my phone and check the time. A groan of exhaustion escapes almost unbidden. It’s half five. I’d been woken in the middle of the night by the thud of Jess’s bedroom door closing, and the sound of soft laughter, followed by silence. So I’d put a pillow over my head, determined to block out the sound – and the idea – of Jess in bed with James.