Matt poured himself and Rona some cheap Muscat to keep the cold away and they stayed up talking. The clock wound towards five: "Shit" said Matt, "I've gotta be at work in four hours."

"Pfft" laughed Rona, trying to stifle a yawn, "no point even going to bed, then."

"Oh Christ, I'm too old for all-nighters."

"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard."

"Hey, just you wait, a couple of years and it'll happen to you!"

"I know" said Rona. "It's a horrible thought."

"You'll learn to appreciate the finer things in life. Like getting up before everybody else does."

"Hello? I got to 'appreciate' that plenty when I was working on the Word."

"Have you ever been tempted to go back there?"

"Not even for a second." She hadn't allowed herself to think about it, not unless - not even if - Si begged her. "If Si left, maybe I'd go back, but right now it feels like something that happened so far back in my past. It's barely even a part of me now."

"Funny, 'cause it used to be everything."

"It was never everything!" Rona protested.

"Okay, whatever you say."

"What are you saying? Don't be so . . . tricky about it!"

"What ever happened to Tricky, anyway? His first album was so good . . ."

"Matt!"

"What? Nothing! I just don't want to see you bored, that's all. You're always on the move, Rona. You're the kind of person who could get bored easily."

"I'm getting pretty bored of this topic of conversation."

"Aww, honey, don't be that way! Come on, I'm sorry. As long as you're happy, I'm happy. That's all there is to it."

"I'm happy."

"You're happy?"

"Yeah, sure" Rona frowned.

Matt looked at her, as if he could look into her hear and see if she was telling the truth - but he couldn't. "Okay" he said eventually, "whatever you say."