Well, she was going to have to come clean tonight. Chloe pulled a bottle from the fridge and poured herself a generous glass while she got on with something she did feel happy with: playing hostess came naturally to her, even without it being her ‘day job’. She’d always loved feeding her family and friends. Her mother and father had been brought up in the Chinese and Welsh traditions of making guests feel welcome with food, so any occasion at home had been marked by cooking frenzies.

She’d already prepared Welsh cakes as a nod to her Welsh heritage, and was now putting the finishing touches to the table and room. The open-plan living room and kitchen area was a light and airy space, but with eight people in there, it would soon feel very cosy so it was a good thing that the evening was fine so that people could spill out onto the terrace. Clouds scudded past, causing the temperature to drop sharply every time a shadow came over. She added cushions to the patio armchair for Evie, and draped a couple of fleece blankets over the arm. Everyone else would probably want to stand outside with their drinks.

Glasses were waiting on the table and a couple of bottles of Cornish ‘champagne’ were chilling in the ice buckets. There was plenty of beer in the fridge for Troy and anyone else, alongside some very nice New Zealand Pinot Gris. She had more champagne ready for midnight to ease the pain of the moment when she would actually hit the big five-oh.

Chloe let out a squeak, realising that everyone was going to think she’d been hoodwinking them. ‘Oh God, what have I done?’

She swept up a couple of cards she’d opened and left on the coffee table and shoved them in a drawer. The big metal badges saying ‘Oh No, Five-Oh’ and ‘Nifty Fifty’ were a bit of a giveaway. Fraser had sent one, she recognised his handwriting, but there didn’t appear to be anything from Hannah.

Telling herself to brace up, she put on some music – Kylie Minogue and why the hell not – and the intercom buzzed. Her stomach did a somersault. It was D day. Arghh.

‘Hello! It’s us!’ Evie’s voice was cheery as ever.

Chloe’s guilt ramped up another notch at the thought of lying to this lovely woman. ‘Coming down now!’ she said and went downstairs to open the door.

Evie stood at the door holding a shimmery balloon with a huge smiley face and ‘You’re 40!’ on it.

‘Happy birthday!’ Evie declared.

Chloe’s jaw hurt from forcing herself to grin. She took the balloon and kissed Evie, feeling a bit like Judas. ‘Thank you. You shouldn’t have.’

Troy held up a coolbag with his good hand. ‘Grub’s in here,’ he said.