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The barman happily pours me another. I take my straw from my empty glass, put it in my new one and resume drinking.

Lorraine seems to wait until the barman has gone to serve someone else before she speaks.

‘Look, I admit, I may have come in a little hot, but I’m just worried about my boys,’ she tells me. ‘Adam is a sweet young man, who cares deeply, and I don’t want him getting hurt. And Si, well, he means well, but there is a reason he and your brother stopped talking.’

‘Why?’ I ask.

‘It’s not my place to say,’ she continues. ‘I just would kindly ask that you leave the two of them alone, if you don’t mind. I don’t want my boys falling out.’

‘I’m not doing anything,’ I insist. ‘I’m just renting a room, while I find a place of my own.’

‘You know I do aerobics with your mother,’ Lorraine tells me. ‘We had a lovely little chat about you, from one concerned parent to the other, and she told me all about your trouble in London… Never good to hear, for a concerned parent, or a potential lover, or a potential employer for that matter.’

What is she doing? Is she threatening me?

‘Don’t make trouble for my boys, okay?’ she says firmly.

I nod my head.

‘These stories do have a way of getting out eventually though, don’t they?’ she says as she gets up from her seat. ‘And they get so twisted over time. But that won’t happen to you, not on my watch.’

Suitably smug, Lorraine wanders off.

‘Another one of these, please,’ I tell the barman.

I grab my drink, spin around on my seat, and watch Lorraine as she chats to her friends, all of them hanging around one of the heaters like witches around a cauldron.

‘Hey,’ Adam says as he sits down next to me.

‘Hey,’ I reply.

‘Is she being friendly?’ he asks.

I nod my head.

‘She can be a bit… I don’t know, much, sometimes,’ he tells me. ‘She means well but – hey, we can’t all have lovely mums who make sausage rolls?’

I laugh. I really do appreciate my own mum right now. I can’t be mad at her for talking to Lorraine about me. I mean, yeah, I can feel mad in the moment, but I know her intentions won’t have been bad. I can see how worried she is about me. I’ll have a quiet, tactful word. Ask her not to mention anything to anyone else.

‘Listen, I just need to nip to the loos,’ I tell him. ‘I’ll be right back.’

I, of course, don’t go to the loos; instead, I go over to see Lorraine. I can’t leave things like this.

‘Hey,’ I say, tapping her on the shoulder. ‘Can we talk?’

Lorraine steps to one side with me.

‘I thought I was clear before,’ she says.

I take a deep breath. If Adam says she means well then I guess what I need to do is lean into that, to reassure her.

‘Look, I feel like we’ve got off on the wrong foot,’ I begin. ‘I’m just renting a room, in a house with your sons, and they’re great guys – you’ve done such a good job. I work with Adam, and things are strictly professional, and with Si, well, I know that he really likes me, but I’ve explained to him that I’m just not looking for a relationship, and he respects that.’

Lorraine scoffs.

‘What’s so funny?’ I ask her.

‘You think Si really likes you?’ she replies. ‘He doesn’t want you – he wants revenge.’