‘Okay, I’m not listening to this any more. This is getting so boring and pathetic that I’m wondering why I’ve bothered to be friends with you for so long. You met a man who seemed nice and then maybe revealed himself to be a jerk, boohoo. Or here’s a wild idea – perhaps he’s genuinely busy. Maybe September is the busy season for forest rangers. Either way, no big deal. Can we please talk about your party now?’

I knew Steph was teasing but she was also smart enough to know when I was sinking into pitiful wallowing.

Not that it stopped the wallowing altogether, of course. I still felt confused and hurt by Sam’s change in demeanour. I spent far too many hours wondering what would have happened if I’d gone ahead and kissed him. I might still be feeling lonely and rejected, but at least I’d have got to enjoy a kiss.

Early one mid-September morning, a week or so before the party, I decided that I couldn’t bear to lie there and wait for the birds to start cheeping for another miserable second. Getting up, I shrugged into leggings and a hoodie, put on my flip-flops and slipped outside, Nesbit padding behind me. There was a narrow streak of blue where the sky met the roofline of the cottages, the moon above it a mere sliver of silver. Icy dewdrops brushed against my feet, and as I breathed in the crisp air, it was ripe with the scent of autumn.

I was startled by a sudden cough, even though I’d come out here hoping to find him. Swivelling around, I saw Ebenezer crouched on a tiny stool, offering me a garden fork. Accepting it gratefully, I knelt down beside him and got to work.

‘Tomorrow, wear proper shoes,’ Ebenezer instructed when he finally rose from the stool with a wheeze.

Nodding, I went inside for a hot shower, a mug of tea and three hours of the best sleep I’d had in months.

After several days of party-induced panic, driven by relentless overthinking, I decided that the party was going to be a celebration of the completed Dream List – although apart from Steph, no one would know that’s what it was.

Initially, I wasn’t quite sure how that would translate into food and décor and entertainment, but on an extra-long walk in the opposite direction to Sam’s house, I decided it simply meant that instead of stressing out about everyone else, I was going to cram my party full of things that made me happy. Once I’d figured out what they were, of course.

The day before the big day, however, something even bigger happened. I came home from work to find a van outside New Cottage, and a man staggering under the weight of a giant cardboard box as he carried it up to the front door.