‘So how’s it going with Dr Indiana Jones?’ I asked Tiff and Drew, keen to change the subject. They were nurses at the same hospital and a new doctor had started there recently whose name really was Dr Jones. They couldn’t resist the Indiana Jones connection, which I suspected the poor guy had been ribbed about ever since he’d qualified. They both had a crush on him, but weren’t sure whether he was straight or gay. Personally, I think they were more interested in the mystery than the actual man because they’d told me on several occasions that they’d never date a doctor.

‘I nearly spoke to him on Tuesday,’ Tiff said.

‘Nearly? Wow! That’s great progress.’

‘He spoke to me yesterday,’ Drew announced, grinning.

‘Bullshit!’ Tiff cried, punching him lightly on the arm.

‘He did!’

‘He said “thanks” when you picked up the pen he’d dropped. That’s hardly a meaningful conversation.’

Drew held his hands up in surrender. ‘Who mentioned a meaningful conversation? I just said he spoke to me. Which is a million times better than nearly speaking to him. What’s nearly speaking to someone anyway?’

I sipped on my prosecco and laughed as the banter continued. Leah retold the story of a disastrous blind date that one of her accountancy colleagues had arranged for her earlier in the week with a tax accountant called Ernie who turned out to be in his fifties; something the colleague had failed to mention. Karen told us about a couple of elderly gents who proposed to her every time she ran an over-sixties fitness class at her local community centre. One of them had offered to feed arsenic to his wife if she said yes, and she suspected he was deadly serious. Then Mum told us about her ‘friendly stalker’ – a man in his fifties called Terrence who popped into the shop at least once a week, refusing to speak to anyone but Mum, and leaving with his tail between his legs if she wasn’t working that day or was running a bear-making class and couldn’t say hello.

I looked round at my friends and family and realised that it was thanks to them that time apart from Scott wasn’t nearly as difficult as it could have been. They always cheered me up if I was feeling melancholy.

‘Is there someone in here celebrating a birthday?’

I turned round and jumped up from my chair, nearly upturning it. ‘Scott!’

He put down the gift bag he was carrying and pulled me into his arms, kissing me until we were blasted with cries of, ‘Get a room!’

‘Sorry I couldn’t get away earlier. I missed you.’

‘I missed you too.’

‘I love you only.’

‘I love you always.’

I giggled when Karen started making vomiting noises. ‘Let me introduce you to my very rude friend, Karen.’