‘Well you best keep an eye on him then, matey.’

I turned back to Mel, talking quietly.

‘Who knows how any of us would react in that situation? Lots of booze. Everybody loved-up at a wedding reception. It’s not your fault, sometimes this stuff happens.’

‘It was just so stupid.’

‘It was.’ I smiled. ‘He’s too short for you, for a start.’

‘I know. Ridiculous.’

‘Much too short.’

She smiled back and my chest buzzed with a rush of love.

‘Rich, though.’

‘Still too short.’

She put her hand over mine on the table.

‘Can you really forgive me, Joe?’

‘Pick up the tab for lunch and I’ll think about it.’

‘Deal. You’re just having the cheap starter, right? No main, no pudding, no booze?’

‘Actually I went for the rib-eye steak and the Bollinger. You don’t mind, do you?’

‘Just this once I’ll let it go. Just this once, mind.’

Kate returned to the table next to us and sat down.

‘Bolly, is it?’ she said brightly. ‘Count me in.’

‘Mel’s buying,’ I said, giving her a grin.

William turned away from the window.

‘That man’s still not dead yet,’ he said solemnly.

I squeezed Mel’s hand.

‘You OK?’ I said to her quietly.

‘I’ll be fine.’

‘You look tired. Is it work?’

‘Work. Life. You know.’ She shrugged. ‘Everything.’

Our meals arrived – Caesar salad for Mel, chicken nuggets for William, steak and ale pie for me – and attention turned to the food.

William studied his plate.

‘Don’t like peas.’

‘Just leave them, Wills. Eat the rest.’

‘Don’t like peas.’

‘Just push them to the side.’

He stared sadly at his mother, pointing at his plate with a small index finger.

‘Peas are touching chips.’

She picked up his plate and scooped the peas onto mine.

‘Look. Daddy will have them.’

She put his plate back and began cutting his chicken nuggets up, each one twice so that he couldn’t choke. She was a good mother, and William was a great kid. Becoming a father had been the best thing that ever happened to me. I’d always thought we should have another baby but for some reason it had never happened for us.

William picked up the biggest chip and bit it in half.

‘Can we go back to soft play after?’ he said, chewing.

I contemplated my half-drunk pint of Guinness.

‘Sure.’

Mel said: ‘It’s my turn, I’ll go.’

Adam returned from the soft play area, a sheen of sweat on his face, his daughters pulling him along, one hand each. He slumped down in his chair and blew out a breath.

‘I do love a nice relaxing Sunday at the pub,’ he said with a smile. ‘Putting my feet up with a couple of pints and the papers, watching a bit of footie, taking it easy. Recharging the old batteries before the start of the working week.’

I’d known Adam since university and we’d been best mates ever since. He had joined the civil service fast track straight after graduating and now had a sensitive and fairly secretive job somewhere within government that he only discussed in the most general terms. Kate was a teacher, the deputy head of one of the local feeder primary schools for Haddon Park.