‘I may have lost everything,’ Kate continued, ‘but I am no victim and neither are any of you. When your life is destroyed you can either weep over the wreckage or you can rebuild it. When your worst fears come true you can either cower in a corner or rise up stronger. And when your body is striped with scars you can either view them as imperfections or as medals. We didn’t fight a battle when we were attacked, we won!’

She paused for breath. Was the last line too cheesy? When she was practising earlier she nearly took it out.

The applause began before she could say another word of her speech. First George, then the elderly woman, then the man in the suit and then the whole circle was clapping and nodding and calling out words of appreciation. One woman, with tears in her eyes, even got to her feet.

‘Well,’ George said, when the noise finally died down. ‘That was one hell of an introduction. Thank you, Kate. I think we all needed that.’

Now, as the meeting ends, half a dozen people make a beeline for Kate. They pat her shoulder and tell her that it’s lovely to meet her and that she did herself proud. Kate smiles and nods and says, ‘thank you very much,’ but the compliments and the niceties glance off her. It’s not the group’s approval she came in search of; what good is the plankton when you need the whale?

As the room empties she gets to her feet and joins George at the refreshment table where he’s counting out the coins from the honesty pot.

‘Hello, hello.’ He gives her a warm smile. ‘Well, you certainly made a good impression tonight. You really gave this group their fighting spirit back and a lot of them needed that, believe you me.’

Kate returns his smile. ‘Did I? That’s so lovely to hear.’

Mentally, she’s restyling him; cutting his hair, shaving his stubble and replacing his clothes and his shoes. There’s something about George, with his Home Counties accent and his bonhomie that would appeal to a lot of middle-aged woman. He’s a very safe man; totally unassuming with zero sexual magnetism, but that’s not a bad thing. He’s someone you’d want to mother, to share a big bear hug with. And there are lot of women who’d go for that. Some men, too.

‘I thought um …’ She produces her business card. ‘I thought I’d give you this. I’m really keen to help you spread the word about this group and help you reach others who might find it useful.’

George raises his eyebrows as he looks at the card. ‘Kate Sheridan, Happiness In An Unhappy World. Sounds intriguing.’

‘It’s my new business,’ Kate says. ‘I’m very good.’ She gives him a long, lingering look. A little flirtation never hurts.