All this time Mel and he sat close together, but not quite touching. I could sense how much they wanted to touch each other, and the resultant crackle of static across the inch of space between them was almost audible. I was envious, but benignly so. It would be wonderful if I could feel the way Mel so obviously did, but I no longer had any worries about rivalry. Maybe I wouldn’t see as much of her as I used to and I probably wouldn’t be her first resort as a confidante or adviser. But Mel and Jasper plainly belonged together and if I was going to be resentful of what was so natural I might as well resent the rain or leaf-fall.

Jasper looked at his watch. ‘Back to work.’ He sighed. He paid the bill for all of us, firmly rejecting my offer to go halves. ‘Next time,’ he said, with the easy certainty that there would be a next time, and many more after that for the three of us. I found that I was smiling at him.

He kissed me goodbye, warmly, on both cheeks. Then he wrapped Mel in his huge bear-hug again. We both watched him picking his way out between the benches and the shopping bags and bamboo vases.

‘What do you think?’ Mel asked, as soon as he was out of sight.

I was touched by how much what I thought mattered to her. ‘I think he’s gorgeous,’ I said. He was gorgeous. I could very easily have fallen for him myself.

‘Yes,’ she agreed. Her face was smoothed out with happiness. ‘Tell you what. Let’s award ourselves an hour to go shopping. What do you think?’

I knew how busy Mel was and I knew she was making the offer in the same way that she had arranged this lunch and chosen the restaurant, because she had thought it out. She wanted me to know that there would still be time for the two of us, that she would see to it there was.

‘I think we should,’ I agreed. I had a job to finish by the end of the day but I could stay late and get it done. It was one of Jack’s Bird Club evenings.

We walked down the street together. Mel put her arm through mine and the sunshine and the unusualness of being out at two thirty on a weekday afternoon made it feel as though we were on a little holiday. On the corner there was a clothes shop that we both liked and Mel stopped to look in the window. ‘That would suit you,’ she said. There was a red dress, sleeveless with a deep V front. ‘What are you going to wear to Evelyn’s party?’

‘Evelyn’s ex’s party,’ I said automatically. ‘Are you going?’

‘Yes. Penny asked me and Jasper’s going to come too.’

‘Good.’