She took a breath and nibbled a piece of croissant before continuing: ‘Oscar’s actually my boss, and he was married when we first started seeing each other. I’ve worked at Bright PR as an account manager for two years and then one of my accounts – a popular tissue brand of all things – really took off and I got promoted. I managed to get the Daily Mail to vote them “Number One Snot Saviour” when the flu virus was big news and boxes flew off the shelves. I was fast-tracked to Director of Consumer PR.’

I chuckled. ‘Yay you!’

‘That’s when Oscar and I became close. We were on a work trip to New York, to visit a potential new client – a hotel group, handily – and he kissed me in the lift after a boozy dinner. It was the best kiss I’d had in a long time. And that’s when it all started really – the snooping around, the secret snogs in hotel rooms, the hundreds of naughty WhatsApp messages during important meetings, sometimes involving what he wanted to do with me over the boardroom table.’ Her cheeks flushed and there was a wistful look in her eye as she no doubt enjoyed a hot flashback.

‘It must have been exciting,’ I encouraged her, my eyes shining. This had turned into a juicy conversation.

‘It was hard not to be excited: he was a successful, wealthy guy – not my usual type, being really tall with barely any hair, but he was good-looking and charismatic – and the sex was amazing!’

‘Was he married then?’ I asked quietly, aware that we could be overheard.

‘His divorce was almost finalized, and I had been single for the best part of two decades,’ she continued. ‘I hadn’t been in love since my first relationship at university. I mean I dated men, on and off, but always found a reason to end it. Most of my friends were busily getting married and having babies; but for me it wasn’t so straightforward. I knew a love so perfect while at uni, I wanted to find that again. I didn’t want to settle for second best when it came to starting a family.’

I nodded, relating to what she was saying.

‘Oscar and I had an instant chemistry and I thought that I’d finally found a proper “grown up” relationship. But Oscar already had two kids and was adamant he didn’t want any more. And then I found out I had a really low egg count.’

‘Oh no, I’m sorry,’ I offered. ‘But it clearly worked out in the end.’

‘I decided to freeze the few eggs I had, and I started looking into the IVF route. I didn’t tell Oscar about this at first because I didn’t want him to suddenly agree to have children just for me. Although it looked, at that moment, like he might never be ready.’

‘But he was, in the end?’

‘We split up for a bit, but ironically, nine months later when his divorce finalized, we got back together and decided to make a serious go of it. I had IVF and it worked.’