She fell into a sort of trance as the dark bedroom shrank in around them. Everything became hollows and spaces, warmth and wetness.

As the weight of loneliness began to settle, the phone rang and she lunged for the bedside telephone.

It just didn’t feel like she needed him especially.

Again Polly cast her eye around the sorry roomscape and Brigitta felt her anger muddle with shame.

vis-à-vis

Abi hated mess. It made her feel ill, the way it could creep across a room, spread up stairs.

and waiting, apparently, for her mother to magic up some more.

Freddie began kissing her with such unyielding force the words came out in a mumble.

Stu leaped up and fixed her with a look so hateful,