My eyes flicker open at exactly half past six in the morning. I’d pretty much spent the rest of last night slopped out on the sofa after Emma's dinner. She always does far too much, even now I still feel partially bloated.

Stretching out under my duvet, I pick my phone up off my bedside table, half expecting to see a text from Oliver or Jeremiah, but there’s nothing; it seems as though they’re really leaving this decision up to me. Excitement courses through me making the tips of my fingers tingle. There’s a notification in my Gmail account. I unlock my phone and open my emails, heart thumping in my chest. Max has responded to my message, I was expecting him to not reply at all. I scan the words on the screen, my eyes lapping up every single word. Shit, he actually wants to talk.

Hey Danielle,

I was surprised, to say the least, to receive your message, I think about what happened to your family every day. I think if we’re to talk about this it would be best to do so face to face. Are you able to talk on Zoom at all? I can arrange a meeting for later on this afternoon if that works well with you?

Zoom. Why didn’t I think of that? Emma and Michael normally get in from work at just after five, if we do a zoom call at four, an hour should give us plenty of time. I type out a reply.

Can we do a Zoom call for four pm?

I press send. The reply comes back in seconds, I imagine him sitting by his computer, or phone, waiting for my response. His reply comes through. God, he’s going to buzzing at the thought of speaking to me. This would be like Christmas coming early for him.

Sure, I’ll send you a link.

It strikes me Max is hedging his bets it’s actually going to me who he’ll be speaking to. I could be anyone, for all he knows. He’s not asked me to show him any identification to prove I’m actually me. Perhaps he’s thinking he can’t pass up this opportunity, even if it does sound too good to be true, like I thought with Jeremiah when I first met him.

Emma and Michael are both downstairs after I finish getting ready.

‘Blimey, you’re not usually out of bed this early on a Monday,’ Michael says, taking a sip of his tea.

‘Oh well, I was awake so I thought might as well get up, you know,’ I say, grabbing two slices of bread from the bread pin and placing them in the toaster, even though I’m not really hungry.

My phone bleeps in my pocket; it’s Max sending me a zoom invitation. I shove it back to make sure Emma and Michael don’t catch a glimpse of it.

‘So you didn’t tell us much about what you and Callum got up to at the weekend,’ Michael says.

Jesus, can’t they just leave it alone? I grit my teeth. It’s like they’re both thinking something happened between us at the weekend. It wouldn’t surprise me if Emma was texting Callum’s mum last night to see if our stories tied up with each other’s. ‘Oh well, we just strolled around the area, had a few drinks at one of the pubs on the sea front. It was really nice. We’re thinking actually about going away for a couple of months.’

‘Where to?’ Emma asks, placing the jar of marmalade back in the fridge.

I know me and Callum haven’t agreed to what we’re going to do yet, but at least I can start planting the seed so it doesn’t come totally out of the blue.

‘We’re still sort of in the planning stages, we might do Europe, Asia, but we want to do it soon.’

Emma's frowning at Michael. ‘This is all very sudden, Danielle,’ she says.

‘Emma, I’ve got the money saved up and to be honest I hate my job, so I’m thinking about throwing the towel in anyway and looking for something else. I’m not going to be young forever; I won’t go mad and spend all of my money.’

Emma holds out her hands, a strained expression on her face. ‘Honestly, love, I’m not saying it’s something you shouldn’t do. I’m sure you’ll have a great time.’

My toast pops up. Michael finishes his tea as I spread a thick lump of butter on the bread. I wait for Emma to say I’m using far too much butter, but she doesn’t say anything. Perhaps she’s thinking she doesn’t want to upset the boat anymore, she can be like that.

‘Right, I’ll see you guys later,’ Michael says as I take a bite of my toast.

He pecks both me and Emma on the cheek as he leaves.

I finish my toast. ‘Just gonna get ready and get set up for work,’ I tell Emma.

‘Well, I’ll probably be gone by the time you get back down,’ Emma says. ‘So I’ll see you later tonight.’

‘At just after five, yeah?’ I ask.

‘Of course, why?’ Shit, now she’s giving me a curious look. I shouldn’t have said anything.

‘No reason, just checking.’ I smile at her.

I place my plate in the sink and hurry out of the room, keen to get out of Emma's way.