The drive to Daylesford had been one long argument. Something to do with who chose the music. Both Edward and James were tense by the time they arrived at their motel, and in order to calm down, a decision had been made: they were to go to the local Indoor Hot Springs. It was a clean and antiseptic-looking place. Though they had planned to visit on another night, in the spur of the moment—mostly to quell his sense that their preceding fight had ruined what was the first evening of their first holiday together—James announced it was best they go immediately. Again, argument ensued (‘I’m too tired for this, we have just driven two hours, why can’t you just make a plan and follow it?’ versus ‘It’s a holiday, can we not be spontaneous?’).

Upon arrival, Edward had wanted to be alone, to close his eyes and think about little more than the sensation of warm water on his slim, taut body. James had wanted to create a memory—a shared experience—for the couple, and continually pestered Edward with attempts at conversation. Only early in their relationship, James and Edward’s differences in character were still a point of friction, each attempting to mould the other into a slightly more workable version of the person they were discovering their partner to be. It was in these smaller moments that both seemed to become most frustrated with the other. James took Edward’s need for solitary silence as an affront. Edward felt James’ pestering to be needy and disrespectful.