‘You did,’ I say. ‘We sat outside and got drunk and never asked for a game.’

‘We’ve got a set! Do you want to play?’

‘Yes, I’d love to. It really has been years. I warn you, I’m pretty good.’

‘Play her, Dave! I tell you, he is brilliant.’ She gets out the board and opens it up on the dining table.

‘I’ll let you play her first,’ Dave says.

I play Suzy and win quite easily. Dave smokes as he watches us.

‘You are pretty good!’ says Suzy. ‘This could be a long game. Wait!’ She jumps up, grabs a wooden bowl from the kitchen and empties a packet of pistachios into it. She gets down three tumblers, ice cubes and a bottle of raki and pours us each a generous measure. Then she sits down at the table and smiles.

Dave and I sit opposite each other.

I rub my hands together.

Suzy hands me the counters and I set them up on my side.

I crack pistachios as Dave lines up his men. I roll a six. He rolls a two. I begin.

‘Have you played for money?’ he says, in all seriousness, eyeballing me as he shakes the dice in his cup.

I smile, leaning forward with my chin on my hand. ‘No, but I’ve played old men in Turkey.’

He leaves a blot and I hit it. He rolls and can’t move. Suzy gets up and changes the music, asking what we want. ‘Something Turkish,’ I say. Dave picks up his cup and shakes it next to his ear.

‘It’s my turn,’ I say.

He looks at me. ‘Is it?’ He puts the cup down and I roll.

Ten minutes later he’s in trouble again.

‘You have to move,’ I say.

‘Can’t,’ he says.

‘You can move the three,’ I say. It leaves another blot exposed. ‘I’ll go easy on you.’

He looks at me. And then he moves, slowly.

I pick up the pace. Two rolls later I bear off the first of my men. Roll, move. Roll, move-move. I throw a double five and bear off four more.

Suzy watches, engrossed.

Dave picks up his tumbler and nods his head towards the bottle. ‘Pour us another, babe.’ He rolls. She turns and pours him a drink. He moves.

‘You’re cheating,’ I say.

‘No I’m not.’

I raise an eyebrow. ‘You threw a ten and you moved twelve.’

‘No I didn’t.’

‘You were there and there.’

‘I was there and there.’ He stabs the board with his index finger.

‘Come on.’

‘I didn’t fucking cheat.’

I laugh openly. He looks like he’s about to hit me. Instead he upsets the board. The men fly into the air. There’s a silence. Raki drips from the table.

‘Oops,’ I say.