‘Bruno.’

‘Bruno! Bruno the banker. So, what do you do at the bank, Banker Bruno?’ she asked, contorting at the sound of her voice.

Bruno huffed.

‘Operational Recovery Supervision,’ he said, clearly expecting his answer to bewilder her.

‘So, you reorganise companies to help them pay back loans to your bank!’ Jemima whooped.

Those hours watching Bloomberg TV instead of writing had finally paid off.

‘Wow, no one ever knows this,’ Bruno said, almost cracking a smile. Almost.

‘Triv queen,’ Jemima beamed, pointing at herself, ‘Anyway, listen, Bruno. Here’s the thing. I’ve got this friend. She’s pretty hot property but she really fancies you.’

She slowly reeled out the carrot and waited for Bruno to reach for a bite.

‘Hmmf,’ he sniffed.

‘No really, she thinks you’re incredibly, you know…’

‘No. I do not.’

She was losing him. Abort! Abort! her brain yelped and if she was doing this for herself, which would never happen, she would have – ages ago. But now, it wasn’t just about her. She was doing this for the girls, all her girls, Meagan, Simi and Beverly. She couldn’t just walk away. Jemima leaned in further. ‘Over there. Gorgeous hair, black girl, navy top, just getting on the orange rocking horse.’

That was a phrase she never thought she’d hear herself say. Jemima watched Bruno as his expression transformed from indifference to that of a starving man who’d only just realised he was hungry. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

‘It’s strange. She has these ridiculously high standards but for some reason…’ Jemima shrugged, now toying with him.

‘What’s her name?’ he drooled.

Incredible, thought Jemima. Meagan had predicted this. Even a hint of something being unobtainable suddenly made it irresistible.

‘Do you want me to bring her over?’ Jemima said.

Bruno shook his head and instead downed the dregs of his drink and made his way to Meagan so quickly Jemima could barely keep up. Once there, Jemima stood aside as Meagan and Bruno swapped numbers with the cool efficiency of good-looking, busy professionals. Sure, there was an attraction but they were both masters of the game and neither were giving anything away. Once Bruno had disappeared the girls huddled to debrief.

‘German?!’ shrieked Meagan.

‘You like him, I can tell,’ retorted Jemima.

‘Even I could see that!’ added Simi.

‘But German. It’s a bit beach-towels-at-dawn,’ Meagan said.

The girls laughed and as they dissected the evening, Jemima confessed to herself, she’d had fun. Her book was still her primary motivation but if this helped Simi and Meagan with their love lives too, surely it would all be worth it in the end?

And later, after Jemima and Simi had said their goodbyes to Meagan and were strolling arm-in-arm to the tube, Jemima wondered if dating, just literally, going out for dinner or to the cinema was something she could do. Maybe spending an evening with someone like Lance might be more than just useful but actually enjoyable. As a light drizzle fell, Jemima thought about Beverly. What, from tonight, would be useful for the reimagined version of her leading lady? She went back to the conversation about Meagan’s standards. Whilst the pushback had burned, Jemima was in awe of Meagan’s unashamed ownership of her ideals. What an amazing trait for Beverly to have – unachievably high standards, not just in terms of a partner but of herself and, indeed, her whole life. Imagine how uptight that would make you, how hard relationships would become, how angry you’d feel when people failed you… Jemima pulled Simi close as a shiver shot down her spine. She was scared and exhilarated by the character she was creating. But now, not only was Beverly’s history and awesomeness becoming intimidating, so too was the prospect of speaking to Simi and Meagan about using their stories. Her attempt to bring up the book this evening had been just as epic a fail as before. Was she that scared? Meagan had not minced her words regarding Troy. To her, she was persona non grata. Simi was slightly more sympathetic but even if she said yes, Meagan could still torpedo the whole thing. Jemima exhaled.