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Beth immediately sits up to defend her cousin’s honour.

‘No more than any girl would, when getting advice from family and friends.’ That’s fine but I hope she knows that I’ve told no one.

Not even Max. I was gentlemanly, discreet.

I kept all of the emotion and confusion to myself.

Beth can sense I’m not too impressed by Suzie’s inability to do the same.

‘You’ve got to understand, she’s fragile. She’s had a super tough year.’

I pause when she says this, realising that Suzie has not told me any of that. I’ve just seen a sweet, confident woman with absolute no backstory whatsoever. Then I remember the name Paul was mentioned in her flat. An old flame perhaps?

‘Are you saying I was a rebound thing?’ I ask, trying to dig for more information.

‘No,’ Beth says resolutely. ‘Not at all. I’m just saying she doesn’t need another person to mess her around.

Do you know how sad she was when you weren’t there at the beach to meet her?

’ I shake my head. ‘I was there. After Meg’s birthday dinner, I saw her on her phone looking up Carloses who lived in Palma.

She got to page ten on the Google search.

You don’t do that for people you just want to shag and never see again. ’

I don’t know how to reply to that. Since we’ve reconnected, I just can’t recalibrate how I feel about any of it. The spark just yo-yos so much, it either burns bright or not at all and I don’t know what that means.

‘She is a good person, Charlie. Just in case you thought differently,’ Beth says, trying to remedy the situation.

‘I’d like to think I am too. Just in case you also thought differently.’

Beth tilts her head, her eyes narrowing as if she’s still trying to work me out. Ed picks up on the awkwardness, sitting between us, his eyes shifting as if realising the energy has changed. It’s then we’re rudely interrupted by a hand reaching into Ed’s Tupperware of baked goods.

‘Steady Eddie. How goes it? What have we baked today?’

I look up and see one of the PE fraternity. I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting anyone from PE yet but I can already tell from the way he’s nicknamed Ed, the over-tight shorts, dayglo white ankle socks and two-hundred-quid trainers that this man might be a bit of a helmet.

‘Oh well, they weren’t for…’ Ed mumbles, but the man doesn’t listen and puts his dirty mitts in the tub anyway. Ed rolls his eyes.

‘Look at the little napkins. He’s so fancy. I’m Tommy from PE, mate,’ he says, turning to me. ‘And you are?’

‘Not your mate. I’m Charlie.’

Tommy laughs even though it wasn’t a joke. ‘You’re new in languages, aren’t ya? You and that fit new girl, what’s her name?’

As soon as he says that something runs through me, a feeling not unlike white-hot fury rising in my stomach. ‘Suzie, her name is Suzie.’

‘Rhymes with…’

‘Yeah, no…’ Beth pipes in. ‘She’s my cousin, Tommy. Don’t go near her or I will…’

‘Attack me with words?’ he jokes. ‘Ooh, the English department have the Macbeth daggers out again.’ Beth sits there glaring at him and it has absolutely zero effect.

‘I’m pretty sure she’s an adult and can make decisions for herself.

Maybe I’ll send her a cheeky email and ask her how she’s settling in?

See if I can be of assistance,’ he says, riling her even further.

That feeling in me builds until it runs through my blood.

‘What was your name again?’ I ask him, coldly.

‘Tommy.’

‘Rhymes with wanker, eh?’

He stops, side-eyeing me, realising I wasn’t joking before. I clasp my hands together, leaning over, exhaling gently to keep my calm. ‘Why don’t you jog on over to your corner of the kitchenette there and go have a plank or something?’

I don’t know where this alpha energy has come from because he does have impressive calves in those shorts and looks like he’d probably be able to take me in a fight. But there is one thing I don’t deal well with and that’s bullies. Tommy looks me up and down and I shrug my shoulders.

‘You shagging her or something?’ he asks casually.

Well, at least he’s one of the few who doesn’t know my whole story. ‘Doesn’t matter if I am or not, you don’t talk about a woman like that. Ever. Not in front of me at least.’

Ed’s eyes widen when I say this, Beth bites her lip to keep her laugh from spilling over, I brace myself, because in reality I have no idea who this man is and whether he’s going to invite me outside for a fight.

And when I say brace myself, I mean clench really hard, in case he does decide to punch me here and now .

‘Alright then, amigo.’

‘See you, capullo…’ I say back. ‘That’s a more colloquial term for amigo.’

He shrugs. I don’t think he knows what colloquial means. He’ll never know capullo is a term for a dick. I hope he finds that out in Benidorm one summer holiday. He scrunches his face at me and walks away. As he does, I glance at Beth and Ed, who are looking at me and smiling. ‘What?’

‘I liked that,’ Ed says, grinning. ‘I have stories about him. He’s generally not a nice person.’

‘Yeah, I could tell.’

It pains me to think that Ed ever suffered under Tommy’s cruel hand but maybe this is a chance for our bromance to flourish.

I’ve got you, mate. However, I also wonder why I jumped to Suzie’s defence so quickly, feeling territorial, jealous, protective, unwilling to let her move on so quickly, especially into the arms of someone so heinous.

I don’t want to imagine her with anyone else and again, confusion eats away at me. I take another of Ed’s cakes.

‘Do you cook the rhubarb down first, Ed?’ I ask him, trying to change the mood.

Ed smiles. ‘Yeah. With a bit of butter, ginger, brown sugar and cinnamon. You should try my muffins.’

I laugh under my breath. ‘Stop flirting with me, seriously. I mean, you’re married…’

And Ed and Beth laugh. Beth’s expression softens and she gives me a little side smile. I nod at her. I hope you tell Suzie and your sisters about this, I really do.