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His voice sounds deeper over the phone. Even sexier somehow.

‘What’s up?’ I ask.

He pauses for a second, which only fuels my nerves.

‘I need a favour,’ he says simply.

‘Okay,’ I reply. ‘Well, you’ve done me a fair few lately so, yeah, anything…’

I probably should have let him tell me what he wanted before I agreed, shouldn’t I?

‘I need you to come somewhere with me,’ he starts, as though he’s building up to saying where.

‘Where?’

‘To meet my family,’ he replies.

It’s my turn to fall silent.

‘Brooke? Are you still there?’ he checks.

‘Yes, sorry, no, I mean yes – yes,’ I say, trying to be clearer. ‘I’ll come meet your family, sure… Any reason?’

I tag that on to the end because, well, we’re not a real couple, so there is absolutely no need for his family to know I exist.

‘I never told them about me hitting Ron, or the story we made up to explain it, and we might have stopped a scandal, but my sister must have seen something online,’ he explains. ‘She confronted me about it last night. I would never tell anyone about you and Ron, and the lie is at the forefront of my brain, obviously, so it felt like the easiest explanation. I thought that might be an end to it, but now they’re asking to meet you.’

‘Erm, yeah, I mean we’re already pretending, so what’s a few more people?’ I say, although doing it around his family feels different somehow. I’m grateful he’s keeping my mistake with Ron a secret, so anything else is preferable. ‘I suppose, if you didn’t want to lie to them, I could tell them the truth, about why we’re covering for each other…’

‘To be honest, it’s a double favour,’ he confesses. ‘Because they’ve been on my back about finding someone – they think all I care about is my job – so this will at least buy me some time, stop them worrying about me for a bit, give me some peace.’

I laugh.

Obviously this isn’t a real relationship, so we’re skipping all the stages that come before meeting the family, the ones that make it feel easier, or worth it. But Eddy and I hardly know each other; we’re tangled up – and sometimes I’m still a little nervous around him, probably because I fancy him, if we’re being honest, but that’s a thought that needs quickly locking up in the box at the back of my brain again.

‘When?’ I ask him.

‘Today,’ he replies. ‘If you’re free, of course…’

I mean, when am I not painfully free? Apart from tonight, of course, when I’m supposed to be going to Manchester to watch Jamie play, but I’m free all day before that, and it will be nice to get out, to have somewhere to go, something to do, people to talk to.

I can hear movement at his end of the call, keys I think, followed by a car door closing.

‘You don’t have to though,’ he says quickly. ‘I can make excuses.’

‘No, it’s all good, it will be fun,’ I tell him. ‘Shall I get ready now?’

‘Yeah, if you’re sure you’re up for it,’ he replies.

‘I’m sure,’ I tell him. ‘I can’t wait to find out the Eddy Hood origin story.’

‘Be careful what you wish for,’ he says with a laugh.

Okay, shit, I need to get ready – and fast.

There are already enough moving parts in this fake relationship without bringing anyone’s actual family into it. The more people we lie to, the more difficult it becomes to step away without making a real mess.

But I have nothing to do until Jamie’s game later, and I think a little of his chaos might be rubbing off on me, because I’m attracted to the mess of it all… ever so slightly.