He shrugs, taking a sip of his pint. “It’s like when we were at uni. He’s loose and free again.”

“He’s loose, anyway,” I inform him and smile as he snorts his beer.

He wipes his face. “Sometimes I think he’s become the image he projects, and that makes me sad.”

My brother-in-law, for all his laidback, easy-going nature, is an excellent judge of character. “What do you mean, Chris?”

“Well, he’s known for being suave and carefree and charming, and he is all of those things. But he’s so much more. He’s a music geek and a Scrabble addict and the best and most loyal friend you could ask for. When I had the cancer scare?”

I nod. Chris had a scare last year. It had been a tense time.

“Well,” he says, “Magnus was with me every step of the way. When I didn’t want to worry Lennie, I’d ring him, and even if it was the middle of the night, he’d pick up the phone, and he’d listen. Even if he was in the middle of a trial, he’d take the time for me. We would go for long walks and he’d let me talk until I was hoarse. And he was so calm and reassuring. I can never pay him back for that.”

“He wouldn’t want that anyway.”

“I know.” He looks sideways at me. “What puzzles me is how you know it too.”

The moment stretches, and I try to think of a way to respond. I’m saved by a cry of “House!” and Mags rises to his feet, waving his bingo card like a flag and doing some strange victory dance as my sister glares at him.

I burst out laughing.

He turns to me. “You saw that, yes? I have won.” He makes a sad face. “And Lennie has not.”

“It’s true,” I say. “Mags is the winner.” He puts his hand to his ear, and I say obediently, “And Lennie has failed miserably.”

Lennie groans, and Mags sits back down next to her. “Do not despair,” he says, mock seriously. “If you want to win, you can always just bring your husband. You can beat him easily.”

“Hey,” Chris says with no rancour at all.

Mags grimaces. “For a CFO, you have an alarming failure rate in bingo.”

Chris looks around, and we all nod at him.

“Oh, fuck off,” he says.

“Well, never mind,” my sister says sweetly. “If he mismanages our money, I can always rely on Laurie to come and paint our house.”

Chris and I start to laugh and Mags groans. “He told you, yes?”

My sister snorts and Mags watches her affectionately, his eyes twinkling. He looks up as a woman comes over to check his card. He says something, and she smiles at him before marking his card. She waves it in the air, and everyone groans.