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“That,” Lauren said eventually, into her hair, and didn’t finish.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know it could be like that.”

“Neither did I.”

Lauren went quiet. Carly felt her gathering herself.

“Will you stay?” Lauren asked. “Tonight. You don’t have to. I know your car’s at the leisure centre, and you’ll have things to do in the morning, and—”

“Yes.”

“—and Berkeley snores, and the boiler makes a noise like a ghost at about four in the—”

“Lauren.”

Lauren stopped.

“Yes,” Carly said again. “I’ll stay.”

She felt Lauren smile against the top of her head.

At some point, the bedroom door creaked open. Berkeley nosed his way in, considered the situation with his head on one side, then lay down across the doorway, where he could see the bed and the hall and the front door all at once. On guard and off duty at the same time.

Carly reached for her phone, looked at the alarm she’d set every night for two years, and switched it off.

She’d wake at six anyway. She always did.

For the first time in a long time, she didn’t mind.

35

Lauren

Bang.

Lauren’s eyes snapped open. She looked left. Carly was already bolt upright, and Berkeley was barking from the living room.

“What was that?” Carly whispered.

“I don’t know,” Lauren whispered. After a few seconds, the barking subsided. “Whoever it is, Berkeley’s got them.”

Carly sank back down, propping herself on an elbow. Her face had gone from white to pink, and Lauren was pretty sure hers had done the same. Quite a way to wake up, but at least it had skipped most of the awkwardness of waking up together. Naked.

“So,” Carly said, her eyes flicking down and back up again. “Last night was…”

“Long overdue?”

Carly laughed. “Yeah.”

Before she could say any more, Berkeley began barking again. Lauren pulled the duvet off her legs and fumbled on the floor for her boxer shorts.

“Let me check this out,” she said, rolling up off the bed. She also grabbed her hoodie, chucked everything on, and opened the door. Only then did she appreciate the full commotion on the other side. Crying baby, barking dog, frantic Paige.

“Sorry,” Paige said over the din. She sat on a kitchen chair, cradling Sam with her right breast out, and nodded towards Berkeley. “Does your new housemate have an off switch?”

“I thought I’d put the chain on.”