Which brings me on to my principal dilemma. Tash has absolutely nailed Luke’s and my problem. Although I’m more than happy with the way things are at present and I know our situation is far from unique, I’m struggling to see where we can take the relationship from here when he’s totally at the beck and call of his mother and insists on keeping us apart. I’ve suggested a few ways we could gently introduce me to her, but while Luke may be very easy-going about most things, he’s made it abundantly clear that he’s not interested in any outside influence where she is concerned. I find myself turning Tash’s words over in my head. Is it a guilt thing? Is she manipulating him? Having not met her myself, it’s impossible to form even a vague mental picture of this woman who has such control over him. I don’t even know how old she is. I mean, if she’s relatively young and we are serious about a future together, we’re going to need to find a way around this.

I can feel my mood plummeting, and I can’t even talk to Luke to cheer myself up, as he’s on shift today. Instead, I decide to try to reframe our situation. Our relationship is still very new, I tell myself firmly. There’s no need to rush to the next stage; we should take time to enjoy what we have now. If it’s meant to be, it will happen somehow. The problem is that I really like him, and not just because it’s been a while since I was in a relationship. I liked Simon the pilot, but it was clear fairly early on that we were never going to be the love of each other’s lives; we just didn’t have enough in common. With Luke, that’s not true. He gets me, and I get him. Yes, our relationship is largely physical at present, but there’s deeper stuff going on underneath; I can feel it. Sometimes, when he looks at me in that intense way he has, it’s like he can see right into the core of my being. It’s a little uncomfortable, but also thrilling.

My phone pings with a message in my pocket, and I pull it out to see that it’s from Luke. That’s the kind of thing I mean. It’s almost like he knew I was thinking about him.

How was coffee with your sister? Miss you. Dr Patel on top form today. She told a rugby injury that he might like to consider a sport that didn’t involve playing Russian Roulette with his bones xx

I smile as I read it, before typing out a reply.