‘It’s hard to see the glamour when you’re working all the time, but it is a beautiful part of the world.’

‘Which is why you should consider staying,’ says Soph with a sigh. ‘Do you know she wants to move to Florida and she’s talking about taking Joel with her? That’s way too far for us to visit as often, and expensive with flights.’

‘Miami’s a great city.’ Miles picks up his drink. ‘Are you able to get a visa to work out there easily, Joel?’

‘It’s complicated.’ Verity turns to Joel and raises an eyebrow. ‘But not impossible; there are definitely ways. It’s just a great opportunity and guaranteed work with the yearlong good weather. Plus, better pay.’

‘Not everything’s about money,’ says Joel.

‘Those two have been on and off for years,’ says Soph, lowering her voice and leaning towards me while the rest of them talk about the Floridan sunshine. ‘They’re as bad as each other, terrified of any labels that sound like commitment. But between you and me, I think this is them finally taking the next step. I mean, what’s a bigger commitment than moving thousands of miles away together?’

I nod, wondering if that’s true. It sounds like I had a lucky escape all those years ago as Joel was never going to be the type of man who settles down in one place and commits. I watch Verity slip her arm around Joel. She holds her phone out to snap a selfie and the two of them kiss. Maybe Verity’s the one to finally make him change his ways.

Douglas sits back down, a fresh pint in his hand. ‘Right then, let’s tee off.’

He starts to down his beer.

‘Woah, there.’ I reach my hand up to his arm. ‘We don’t need any holes-in-one just yet. We’ve got a long night ahead of us.’

I notice that his eyes are ringed and heavy-looking again. I’m not sure if it’s possible but he looks like he’s aged since I last saw him a couple of weeks ago. I’m not the only one staring at him; Joel is too.

‘Take it easy. We’ve got six sips to drink it in.’

Miles puts his glass down with half of it drunk; I think he’d had the same plan as Douglas.

‘We get to chat though, right?’ says Soph. ‘I can’t remember what we used to do on pub crawls.’

‘It was pretty much just drinking,’ says Joel.

‘And dancing on bars. No, wait, that was you two,’ Douglas says, pointing at me and Soph.

‘Trust you to remember that, and it was only once or twice,’ I say. ‘Coyote Ugly had a lot to answer for.’