‘I take it you’re not seeing sexy Stephanie with the fishnet stockings anymore?’

‘No,’ Pip said. ‘Oh no. She dumped me, cruel woman. Said I didn’t listen to her.’ Pip winked at Jake. ‘At least I think that’s what she said.’

‘Have you never thought of settling down?’

‘Me?’ Pip said. ‘No one would have me. I have too many disgusting habits. Too many brains cells that cry “Freedom!”’

‘Married men are the new sex symbols. You only have to look in the tabloids—David Beckham, Brad Pitt, Sting. All married men and the sexier for it. Even in this day and age women like all that stuff. Homes and babies.’

‘Yeah,’ his friend said. ‘And look where it got Lyssa.’

Jake shifted uncomfortably. ‘I was just thinking, it would be a great pitch for the new Blow aftershave.’

‘Yeah, well don’t worry your pretty little head about that. You’ve got enough on your plate.’ Pip fidgeted on the hard leather. ‘It feels weird being here rather than in your old place.’

That was something Jake could empathise with. After he’d been out to get some essential supplies, he’d spent all day kicking his heels, watching sport on Sky and generally feeling as if he didn’t belong here at all. Neve’s apartment was fantastic, it was his dream home—but now that he was here it all felt very stylised and manufactured. His old house had been homely and cosy—at the time he’d hated it, but at least he’d felt comfortable putting his feet up on the sofa. Maybe when he’d been here a bit longer he’d settle in and feel able to treat it like home, instead of feeling he’d been accidentally dropped into a Loft Living photo shoot.

He’d phoned Pip out of desperation and thankfully, despite all the severe weather warnings that advised otherwise, his mate had agreed to hotfoot it over. Pip had a flat in Islington which he shared with a hairdresser called Simon. Jake had always found this a bit suspect. Pip was very flamboyant, but he was sure he wasn’t gay—there were too many women passing through his life on a regular basis for that to be in doubt. Simon, however, was undoubtedly a homosexual. It was a bit like sharing a house with Harvey Fierstein. Neve’s apartment was a bit of a schlep across town, but Pip had recently become a born-again biker and didn’t need much excuse to get out on his Yamaha whatever-it-was.

‘Do you think it’s going to work out with Neve?’

‘Oh yeah,’ Jake said more confidently than he felt. ‘Yeah. Yeah.’

‘There are a lot of guys waiting to take your place.’

‘Well, let them try. I think Neve’s happy to be in a committed relationship.’