that until he gets to know people better.’
‘I like cats,’ Adam said unnecessarily. ‘He’s cool.’
‘He’s great,’ I agreed, and I found myself pouring out the story of how I’d come to adopt Frazzle – or rather, how he’d come to adopt me.
‘I used to have a cat,’ Adam said. ‘Well, I kind of had a share in one. He belonged to our neighbours, but they had a baby and needed to move to a bigger house. So he’s gone with them. His name’s Freezer.’
‘It sounds a bit like Frazzle, doesn’t it? Is he white? He must be, with that name.’
Adam nodded. ‘White with one blue eye and one green one.’
‘Adorable. But Frazz says ginger cats with yellow eyes are better.’
Frazzle rolled over on Adam’s lap so he was upside down, inviting him to rub his fluffy belly.
‘Okay,’ Adam said. ‘If I move here, if the flat I’m seeing isn’t a total dump, I’ll consider being your Dungeon Master. Just for a few games, to see how it goes.’
I sent up a silent prayer of gratitude for my cat’s unique charisma and charm.
‘Amazing! I’d be so grateful, I really would. Let me give you my number, text me and let me know how the viewing goes. And if there’s anything I can do to help set up the game, I will, obviously, although I don’t actually have a clue how to play or anything.’
Adam tapped my number into his phone. ‘We’ll see. I’d rather stay in Hackney, but if this place is decent and I take it, I’ll let you know.’
I sensed that that was as much of a commitment as I was going to get, so I thanked him again, wished him luck with his flat viewing and headed out to the gym, leaving Adam chatting away to Frazzle, far more animatedly than he had to me. As the door of the pub swung shut behind me, I could hear him asking my cat, ‘Who’s got the most magnificent whiskers in all Lewisham? Who’s got the fluffiest ears in the world?’ which of course Frazz already knew the answer to.
Dani was in the gym already when I got there, but she put down her kettlebell and hurried over when she saw me.
‘Hey, Zoë! I thought you weren’t going to turn up. Sorry I missed you the past couple of days, work have been dicking around with my shift pattern and I’ve been doing afternoons, so I’ve been coming here in the mornings.’
‘That’s okay. I was late today anyway; I got held up at work.’
I gave her a brief overview of how I had used my cat to – hopefully – persuade someone to move to the area and volunteer to lead our Dungeons & Dragons group, and Dani laughed. I considered filling her in on the Seth situation, too, but something stopped me. I wasn’t ready to laugh about it or chalk it up to experience yet, and besides, there was a part of me that was still hoping – although the hope was faint and I secretly hated myself for it – that he’d get in touch again after all.
‘So,’ Dani said, picking up her kettlebell again and starting to swing it in a way that would have terrified me a year ago, ‘it’s weird here in the mornings. Different crowd.’
‘Oh yeah? Who did you see?’
‘Some of Mike’s personal training clients – my God, but they’re hardcore – and a woman who is apparently a professional dancer and is so bendy you won’t believe.’
This was interesting enough intel, but I sensed that there was more Dani wanted to reveal, so I shut up and waited for her to carry on.
‘And you know that guy we saw here a while back? The totally shredded one with the American accent?’
Fabian Flatley. But I didn’t want to say his name – it felt, stupidly, like it would be summoning Lord Voldemort.
‘Yeah, I remember him.’
‘He’s called Fabian. We worked out together a couple of times. He says he’s going to show me how to do clean and jerks.’
As far as things Fabian Flatley might get up to went, coaching a compound barbell lift didn’t sound too sinister.
‘Cool,’ I said.
‘He’s really interesting,’ Dani went on, ‘as well as being hot, obviously. He works with loads of tech start-ups. One of them’s that thing with scooters that you can access through an app and use when you need them. It’s fantastic for the environment and getting people active.’
Especially the kids that hack into the software