John had been our unofficial moving co-ordinator, fixer and all-round hype man from day one. He brought us food when we worked late, he drove me home when I missed my last train and, as Veronica said to his face the first time they met, he had ‘shagged a smile’ onto me that I simply could not wipe off. I’d always assumed sex with Patrick was the best sex could ever possibly be but, apparently, that was only because I didn’t know better. Sex with someone you fancied like mad was great but sex between two people who fancy each other like mad and really cared about one another? Another stratosphere.

John crossed the office floor in three strides and put his arm around my shoulders as I leaned into him. He sniffed the air and pulled a face.

‘Is Veronica here?’ he asked.

‘Left four hours ago,’ I groaned. I knew that filter would not work.

Outside, I heard a ruckus on the street and turned to see Sumi, Adrian and Eva banging on the glass, faces pressed against my freshly washed window. Next to them, and very much not participating in the banging, Lucy waved as she rocked her pram back and forth.

‘Argh, look at it!’ Sumi crowed as they barged through the door, leaving fresh palm prints as they went. They spread out across the office, Eva hopping up on a desk, Sumi rattling the water dispenser, Adrian going straight for the big, pink retro fridge. ‘Ros, it’s brilliant.’

‘I still think it’s just an elaborate front for a knocking shop,’ Adrian said, his face bursting with delight as Eva laughed out loud.

‘Why aren’t any of you at work?’ I asked, planting my hands on my hips theatrically as John greeted them all with hugs and kisses. ‘Does no one have a job any more?’

‘I had a doctor’s appointment,’ Sumi said, frowning as she prodded a tender spot on her stomach. Getting pregnant wasn’t proving to be as easy as she’d hoped but she wasn’t giving up. Adrian had offered to ‘lie back and think of England’ if she wanted to ‘get it done the good old-fashioned way’ but Jemima had voiced a stern objection about the idea of raising anything with Adrian’s DNA and Sumi had politely declined, explaining it was still early days and, quite frankly, she’d rather eat her own face than have sex with him.

‘I trained classes this morning,’ Eva explained, her CrossFit-honed muscles rippling in a strappy vest, even though it was no longer strappy-vest weather. Eva loved a bit of nice athleisure wear.

‘And I’m rich,’ Adrian shrugged as he admired his girlfriend’s rippling muscles. ‘So, yeah.’