“It could have been if I’d taken my medication in time. I was enjoying the walk, and I didn’t pay attention.”

I hadn’t paid attention, because I’d been so determined to get the most out of my outing with him. I’d spent that morning sitting around the flat and moping endlessly about my future. The walk with Mags had been a much-needed escape from my thoughts, but he isn’t to know that.

His gaze is contemplative, but it turns into polite enquiry as the man opposite speaks to him.

“I missed your birthday party, Magnus. Was it good?”

“Define good,” he says with a wicked curl of his lips.

The other man chuckles.

“When was your birthday?” I ask, stunned that I’m interested.

“A few months ago. You didn’t miss much. Birthdays after fifty are never much fun.”

“How old are you?” I ask.

“Fifty-two. You?”

“Forty-eight.”

We gaze at each other for a long second, and then the man asks, “So how are you finding middle age, Magnus?”

“Surprisingly tedious. I was astounded to find that adverts for funerals are aimed at anyone over the age of fifty. As if I blew out my candles and immediately needed to be carried out of my flat feet first.”

I laugh. “How long does it take to find your birthdate on those dial things on applications?”

His mouth twitches. “I could have run a marathon by the time the dial has finished spinning.” Everyone laughs, and he turns to me. “You’re no spring chicken yourself, Laurie.”

“Magnus!” the lady by my sister gasps. “How rude.”

“It’s the truth,” my sister says lazily, so I shoot her the middle finger.

“Tell me a peril of getting old,” Mags orders me.

I shrug. “That I can now predict the weather using my left knee joint.”

The table bursts into laughter, and conversation becomes general. We finish our meal and make our way back into the lounge where Chris serves some more of his extremely strong drinks. This is the key to Chris and Lennie’s success at giving dinner parties. They get their guests so pissed that they presume they’ve had a good time.

I notice Magnus is absorbed in conversation with the blond man. Even as I watch, Magnus bursts into laughter. I repress a tinge of irritation and draw my sister into conversation.

A few hours later, the dinner party starts to break up, and I find Magnus at my side. “Hello,” I say, smiling lazily up at him. I’m comfortably ensconced on the sofa and feeling sleepy. “What’s up?”

“Would you like to share a taxi? I think we’re going the same way.”

I struggle out of the octopus-like grip of my sister’s furniture.

Lennie looks over. “Are you going, Laurie?”

I nod. “Mags and I might as well share a taxi back.”