‘Oh, right. That sounds nice.’ I’m forcing enthusiasm into my voice and I know it probably sounds false, but I can’t help it. It’s not like I’m not pleased that my dad seems to have finally met someone that he likes – it’s taken him long enough – but I’ve been so used to him always being there in the past. Now, when I ask him to do things, he’s often busy or he’s out when I nip in to put healthy food in his fridge.

‘Yeah,’ he says, ‘um, but we’re looking forward to having lunch with you at the weekend. It’ll be nice for you to finally meet her.’

I notice the use of the word ‘we’ and it stabs at my heart as ‘we’ used to mean him and Mum.

‘I’m looking forward to it too,’ I say, trying to make myself mean it. He’s never been serious with any of the other women he’s dated, and I have no idea how it’ll make me feel to see him with an actual girlfriend.

‘You know Miles is more than welcome if he wants to come.’

Miles has met my dad a couple of times, but only at after-work drinks. I’m about to bat his invitation away, but maybe it would help having an extra person there when I meet Julie. Miles would be able to plug any awkward silences with the random fun facts he likes to come out with at times.

‘I’ll check if he’s free.’ Dad looks pleased. ‘I think it’s supposed to rain tonight; you might want to take your brolly for the walk home.’

He nods and retreats over to the coatstand and takes out his golf umbrella. ‘What would I do without you looking out for me?’ he says, holding it up as he passes.

I wonder if I should call it a day too, but I don’t fancy going home to an empty flat and Miles is playing five-a-side football tonight. I shut down my work anyway and pull up the email from my past self, reading it for the billionth time. Only this time when I get to the end, instead of clicking out of it, I hit reply.

Ever since Layla talked about emailing back, I’ve been wondering what I would say to my old self if I got the chance.