‘You sound very wise all of a sudden.’

‘I’ve had a lot of therapy myself,’ she said pointedly. ‘And don’t worry about my broken heart. That wasn’t what needed fixing.’ She tapped a finger to her head.

‘Do you remember the name of your album, Nina? Life in general and love in particular?’

Nina covered her face with her hands. ‘I do.’

‘Were there any songs about me?’ He peeked up at her from beneath his fringe, which had become floppy and tousled in his distress. He reminded her so much of teenage Teddy.

‘There were. That’s all I’m saying.’ She smiled as she pictured teenage Nina and teenage Teddy punching the air and chest bumping: We knew it!

Around them, La City Pâtisserie was filling up and Nina saw Flynn nobly trying to make headway with the queue alone, not wanting to disturb them. ‘I’d better go,’ she said, standing up.

‘Indeed,’ Ted said, pushing back his chair. ‘I saw the figures last week, Neen. You’re smashing it. I’m really happy for you.’

‘Thanks,’ she said and beamed. From the devastation they had wreaked, Nina had carved out a life for herself and she was proud.

Ted hesitated. ‘One last thing: why haven’t you told Alice about us?’ he asked. ‘She hasn’t tried to bludgeon me to death with a frying pan yet, so I assume you haven’t…’

Nina held on to the back of her chair. ‘Honest answer? I’m scared I’ll tell her and she’ll never speak to me again.’

He nodded, his hands in his pockets, his suit jacket flaring behind his forearms.

‘How’s she doing?’ she added.

‘Okay, really. Desperately worried about Charlotte, of course. She’s not coping at school at all since that Mr Hough left.’

‘Mr Hough left?’ Nina asked. She knew how much Alice had sought his counsel. ‘It was thanks to him Charlotte got any support in school in the first place!’ she exclaimed.

Ted leaned back on his heels, chewing on his bottom lip. ‘It would seem so,’ he said. ‘Hang on. Why don’t you know about that? You’ve been in touch with Alice? Since Paris?’

Nina shook her head, as bewildered as he. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Nor Jules. I can’t explain it. They ghosted me. I had to leave early that morning, and I just never heard from either of them again. I had a lot going on, so I didn’t contact them either and then, I don’t know, it became a thing.’ Something occurred to her. ‘I suppose they could think I ghosted them. Alice has certainly had a lot on her plate and Jules, I don’t know what happened with her IVF…’

‘I’m sure I heard something about Jules...’ Ted said, face briefly wrinkled in thought before he shook his head.

Nina was lost in her own thoughts: she still had to fight the impulse, whenever a song came on the radio they all liked, or had memorably danced to, to press her phone against the speaker, recording a voice note and singing along, sending it to their WhatsApp group, When in Paris like she used to.