‘Nothing, it’s fine.’ He looks at me. ‘OK, it’s not exactly fine. We had a weird thing and we just need some space.’

He nods. ‘I’ll accept this as an answer because I can see that you don’t want to share specifics, but the next Games Night is only a month away, so if it’s not sorted by then, let me know and I can interfere if it looks like you guys might get pitched against each other.’

‘We’ll be fine by then.’ It would be awful if we had to share custody of Games Night.

‘Anyway, I haven’t asked for a while – how is the card business going? I loved the food series you did.’

I’m touched he liked the food series – it was a particular favourite of mine because of all the egg jokes – but I’m also kinda surprised that he would know any details about my cards. ‘You saw the food series?’

He looks at me. ‘Of course. I’m your biggest fan. I always check to see what you’re doing, mainly so I can use the jokes as my own.’

When I first started the business a couple of years ago, I considered keeping the whole venture secret so I could save face when I stopped doing it, either by choice or because of a lack of funds, and it still isn’t natural for me to talk about it, especially in public. Especially now when I know how Mia feels. So I keep quite vague about many of the details. I don’t want to outright lie to Peter as that does feel wrong, but I also don’t want him to see me as flailing.

‘I think it’s going OK. It’s actually probably going better than it deserves. I haven’t put as much effort into it as I could, but I want to come up with a plan to make it bigger. The stores I’m stocked in always sell out and they always want more, but I’m not quite in the position to give them more. It’s a bit of a catch-22. To give them more I need to make more money, but to make more money I need to give them more.’ I realize I’m waffling now, and I shift from foot to foot, uncomfortably aware that what I’m saying isn’t clearly thought through.

I can also feel the increasingly angry stares burning into us as other people wait for our order to be completed, waiting less and less patiently for their turn. The sighs and tongue clicks have gained momentum over the last two minutes.

‘Well, I think what you’re doing is great.’ Of course he does, he’s always optimistic. ‘I don’t know if you know this, but should you ever want help, or even a sounding board, there are people who would love to help you. It can’t be easy working away on your own. I would definitely go nuts if I only had myself to run ideas by.’

I squirm. ‘I’m fine. It’s all fine. After all, they’re just silly cards.’ Silly cards that I’m not going to do anything with.