The wish-washy feeling in her stomach she’d had since last night had intensified as she approached but she recognised her nervous system calming as she sat down, reaching an arm around Alice in hello, grateful that she still doused herself in rose perfume and hairspray. It was reassuring; it made Nina feel like things would be okay.

‘Morning!’ she chirruped. She wasn’t a natural chirruper – it broke the gentle, melodic rhythm of her voice, honed through hours of yoga and mindfulness – and it came out high-pitched and forced.

Alice started, reflexively shrugging off Nina’s arm, her dark blue eyes blinking, as though she hadn’t expected to see her there even though they were due to meet by the Eurostar entrance in twenty minutes. ‘Oh, Neen,’ she said, pulling her into a hug, not seeming to notice the mini baguettes that must be poking into her ribs.

‘Are you okay?’ Nina asked, pulling back, putting a hand to Alice’s upper arm. She looked tired and anxious and for a moment Nina forgot her own problems. She had been sure, as she tried to sleep last night, as she was in the shower this morning, as she slipped her passport into her bag before she left home, that with one look her oldest friends would have it figured out, but she realised – with a mix of gratefulness and guilt – that Alice had too much on her plate to notice how tired and anxious Nina was herself this morning.

‘You’re early,’ Alice said, miming intense surprise.

‘I do that now,’ Nina said, grinning good-naturedly. Sometimes she found comments like this from Alice or Jules annoying – sure, for the first ten years of their friendship she was usually late, but for the last ten, and definitely since Alice had had three kids and Jules had been doing her thing in the City, she was the only one on time – but today she was so grateful to be here with Alice it didn’t bother her at all. She glanced at her watch. She had time to tell Alice, before Jules arrived. She took a deep breath and was about to tell her everything when she noticed Alice’s eyes, puffy and bloodshot, her face pale.

It took a moment for Nina to realise Alice was crying. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, wrapping her arm back around her. This time Alice collapsed willingly into her shoulder.

‘They’ll be okay?’ Alice sobbed, burying her face in her hands. ‘Won’t they?’

‘The kids? Of course. They’ll be fine.’ She pulled Alice closer into her, trying to ignore an intense rush of nausea as floral notes invaded her nostrils, and weighed up what to say. When it came to Alice’s children, and Charlotte especially, it was easy to say the wrong thing. ‘They’ll have a great time with Ted.’

Nina felt Alice flinch and swallow beneath her embrace and she looked skywards and sighed. Motherhood, man. She often thought of how much of herself Alice had willingly handed over to her family. She felt a quiver of fear.