‘It’s like riding a bike – the minute you get back on, you remember how to do it.’

‘I never had a bike.’

‘Now you’re being pedantic,’ he warned and Lauren giggled.

Zak rolled up his shirt-sleeves and flexed his fingers and did some neck circles. ‘Ready?’

Lauren nodded. She waggled her fingers at him. ‘Bring. It. On.’

They selected their letters. Seven each. ‘Ladies first,’ Zak said graciously and Lauren took the opening turn.

She slapped her letters down on the board, enthusiastically.

‘S.H.I.T.B.A.G.’ Zak raised an eyebrow. ‘An interesting opening gambit.’ He studied her word. ‘I don’t mean to be a stickler but the words are supposed to come from the Oxford English Dictionary. I don’t think you’ll find S.H.I.T.B.A.G. in there.’

‘S.H.I.T.B.A.G.’ Lauren pointed at the board. ‘Lots of points.’

‘I see,’ Zak said. ‘We’re going to play dirty Scrabble.’

He countered with S.E.X.Y.

‘Pathetic.’

‘Eight points for the X alone, I think you’ll find.’ He cracked his knuckles.

The butler brought cheeseburgers and chips and they ate them from the tray he put between them. Lauren couldn’t remember the last time she’d had chips or had enjoyed them so much. She dipped each one in ketchup. Lots of it. Between chips, she clinked her letters down on the board.

‘B.A.S.T.A.R?’ Zak queried. ‘That’s definitely not a word.’

‘You get my drift.’

‘I put it down to you being inordinately drunk and will let you have the points anyway.’

‘It’s not easy being one D short of a bastard,’ she said, and laughed uproariously. Enchanted played away in the background. It was at the point where the fairytale princess landed up in New York in the hands of a cynical lawyer. It was a beautiful, optimistic film in a harsh world. And, of course, Giselle finds her handsome prince in the most unlikely of men. Lauren sniffed away a tear.

‘Don’t cry,’ Zak instructed sternly. ‘It’s nowhere near the sad bit. Concentrate on the game.’

Lauren helped herself to a tissue and focused on the Scrabble board.

Her friend tried A.D.O.R.E.D.

‘Hmm,’ Lauren said. ‘Lame.’

‘Sixteen points. Double word score,’ he shrugged.

Lauren slapped down B.I.T.C.H.

‘You’re technically not allowed to put that there.’

Lauren shot him a look. ‘Why?’

‘Your pieces are butted up against another word, rendering it nonsensical.’

Lauren folded her arms and stared him down.

Zak held up his hands in surrender. ‘But I’m not arguing with you in your current state of mind.’

‘Good move.’

‘Want to tell me who we’re talking about?’