The next time Rona saw Matt she was having doubts. Ever since the conversation with Miranda she'd been thinking about what had been said so casually: she knew it wasn't true, but still . . . She was on a tram into the city with Matt - they were going to have Chinese, then go see a film, and Matt's car had broken down - and she turned to him, and said:

"You don't . . . not like Hannah, do you?"

"I don't not . . ." Matt mulled over the words, trying to make sense of them. "You mean, do I dislike Hannah?"

"Yeah."

"No, of course not! Why would you think that I did?"

"I didn't, really" Rona shrugged, trying to make it look like it was a normal thing to ask. "I just wanted to make sure."

"Why?"

"Something someone said."

"Something Hannah said?"

"No."

"Okay."

Rona accepted his answer, but then frowned. "You'd tell me if you did, wouldn't you?"

"That's . . ." Matt laughed in exasperation. "I don't even know where to begin answering that!" he said. "I mean, it's never going to happen. Not unless she does something really out there. I mean I can't conceive of a situation in which it'd even be an issue."

"You didn't answer the question."

"Well - yeah, yeah I guess I'd tell you. I mean of course I'd tell you. But I'll never have to, you know?"

"Okay." Rona nodded her head, and settled into her seat.

"So . . . Any other questions?" Matt asked, perplexed.

"No, that's it."

"Okay." Matt didn't understand where the hell that'd all come from. Had Hannah said something to Rona? He knew Rona had said that wasn't the case, but why else would she be asking him about it? Or had he done something to make her start worrying about it? What was going on? There must be something going on: a person didn't just start asking questions like that for no reason. Did they? He couldn't take it, he had to try and make sense of it. He cleared his throat. "Well . . . Is there some reason I should dislike her?" he asked.