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and torso and lightly kissed his cheek, not wanting to wake him.
    He opened his eyes and grabbed her. After a long, lingering kiss they came up for air and Jay could see that Claire wasn’t happy about leaving.
    ‘I’ve got to work too, darling. Shall I make you a coffee before you go?’
    God, he was such a catch. ‘No thanks, babes, I’m fine. Go back to sleep for a bit and I’ll see you tonight.’ They kissed one last time. Jay smiled and turned over. He was sleeping by the time Claire closed the door.
    Although it was stupid o’clock in the morning she walked to the taxi with a spring in her step, looking forward to the weekend and making plans with Jay for the rest of their lives together.
    ‘Hello, love.’ said Ron when she jumped off the bottom two steps and fell into the back seat of the taxi.
    ‘Bloody hell. Take it easy girl,’ he said. ‘Don’t want you injured on my shift.’
    She laughed as they pulled out onto the road. Despite the city being awake all night it was relatively quiet on the roads at this time in the morning. Claire looked at her watch wondering how long she should wait before calling her brothers to tell them how it went. She’d call her parents later on tonight when she knew her father would be home rather than speaking to him at work. The good news might cheer her mother up as she’d sounded a bit down just lately.
    Ron looked in the mirror and thought his fare looked extremely pleased with herself.
    ‘I can see somebody’s had a good night, love. Care to…’
    ‘Effing hell,’ screamed Claire and Ron mounted the empty kerb, managing to dodge the car speeding in their direction, too far on the wrong side of the road.
    ‘Bloody lunatic!’ he shouted, honking his horn at the same time but it was over in a flash, the other vehicle long gone. His quick thinking had saved them from a head-on collision and Claire took a deep breath.
    ‘Oh my God. I could have been killed on the same night my boyfriend proposed to me. That would have been…’ She stopped to consider and smiled as Ron looked at her in the mirror.
    ‘Shit, Ron. That’s what that would’ve been. Great driving by the way.’
    He acknowledged with a smile. ‘Congratulations. When’s the big day then? Oh, hang on.’ Ron’s mobile started ringing and he leaned over to pick it up off the passenger seat, keeping one eye on the road. The phone fell to the floor.
    ‘Shit.’ The roads were pretty quiet so Ron kept his right hand on the steering wheel as he fumbled on the floor with his left. If somebody was calling him at this time in the morning it must be pretty important so he had to answer it.
    Claire saw the lights getting nearer and nearer. ‘They’re changing, Ron. Slow down. Slow down!’
     
    Dave’s filter light was on green and he’d manoeuvred half of his big truck through the right turn when he saw the taxi heading towards him. Must have good brakes was his first thought before he realized that there was no way the car would stop at the lights and impact was inevitable. There was nowhere Dave could go and nothing he could do. His world turned to slow motion and he touched the cross that he always wore on his silver chain. The impact came and jolted the big truck but Dave managed to bring it to a halt and he said a silent prayer before jumping down from his cab and running to the gruesome scene.
     
    *****
     
    At 5.17 am Claire’s twin brothers Tony and Jim awoke simultaneously in the flat they shared. Jim left his sleeping girlfriend Fiona in their bed, picked up his phone from the bedside cabinet and switched on its light. He slipped on a pair of tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt and quietly left the room. Something awful had happened to his sister. The light was already on in the kitchen and Tony was standing there, looking at his own phone when Jim entered.
    ‘I’ve texted Tash. No reply,’ said Tony. Neither thought it strange that they were both awake at the same time, worried about their