‘That’s lovely to hear,’ I cooed. It was nice to hear some positivity; it had felt as though we mainly used WhatsApp to discuss Colic problems so far.

‘Has anyone even thought about work?’ I asked, just as Helen plonked a bottle of white wine in a chiller in the middle of the table.

‘Evening ladies and gents,’ she announced, before glancing around at our drinks and noticing we were all nursing glasses of red wine. ‘Oops, looks like this bottle is all for me then. Perk of formula feeding! Just going to quickly check on Maddie.’

And she popped over to her pink Bugaboo, peeked in and replaced the pink muslin canopy quickly and delicately, creating a cosy tent for the sleeping baby inside. She made an ‘okay’ sign with her hand and rejoined us, unscrewing the top from the wine bottle and charging her glass.

‘It feels so weird to be out!’ she exclaimed. ‘But Ian is currently boring Jason with the football results so some things don’t change,’ she rolled her eyes.

Lucy had come back from the toilet and took her seat next to me again.

‘That’s them gone for hours then,’ I said, reaching for my glass and taking another small sip.

‘He used to play at Bristol,’ Lucy muttered.

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ I said, turning towards her, ‘Jason, you mean?’

‘Um, yeah,’ she said, seeming a little flustered. ‘There was a photo, in your flat – the team.’ She was right, there was a framed photo at home of Jason with the Bristol Uni football team, just after they won the universities league. He had never allowed me to take it down. She must have noticed it at the breastfeeding class; I was amazed she remembered.

‘Where did you go to uni?’ I asked, glossing over the fact that she had been stalking our photos instead of concentrating on the tutor – maybe if she had paid attention, she wouldn’t be in such a state with feeding now. I berated myself for bitching, even if it was inside my head.

She looked at me like I had asked her a very personal question.

‘London,’ she replied, fixing me with an intense gaze, one that made me refrain from asking any more. ‘I’m just popping out to give Oscar a call – to check on Albie.’ She stood up.

We stayed in the pub for a couple of hours, ordering chips to wash down the wine, and for a blissful time it felt liberating to be out of the house, socializing, like normal people.

I was a little annoyed that Jason didn’t make any effort to socialize with the wider group – he stayed up at the bar with Ian for nearly the whole time. Once I glanced over and caught him looking at Lucy, but I guessed he was only watching out for me, after the text weirdness the other night. Later, I saw his eyes follow Helen to the Ladies’, as she went to change Maddie. In her little denim skirt and pale pink sweater, you’d never have known she pushed a baby out just two weeks ago. She looked like a Barbie. I hated myself for feeling a twang of jealousy, insecure about my own looks post-pregnancy.