She sighs heavily. ‘We got old, and I’ve got to go and pump and dump.’

Douglas raises an eyebrow, and his ears prick up like an animal’s.

‘That sounds interesting,’ he says.

‘Eww, get your mind out of the gutter,’ says Soph, standing up. ‘I’ve got to use my breast pump to pump the milk before my boobs start leaking. Alfie would usually be having another feed around now.’

‘Ow, that’s not quite what I had in mind.’

‘We can all guess what you had in mind, Douglas,’ says Verity as Soph heads off to the toilets.

‘Right, what par are we on now?’ asks Miles, standing up. ‘I’ll get the next round in.’

‘Are we still even playing?’ I tug at his sleeve to pull him back down.

‘Of course,’ says Douglas.

‘I’m not sure I even drank the last round,’ says Verity, turning to Joel.

He shrugs. ‘Don’t look at me, everything’s been hazy since that whisky chaser. Is it time to go home yet?’ He leans his head against the wall for support.

‘You’re such a cute drunk.’ She pulls her phone out and cosies up to him, snapping another selfie.

Miles heads off to the bar. Brett leans over to talk to Joel and Verity, and I turn my attention to Douglas. I’ve been wanting to talk to him all night.

‘You don’t seem quite yourself.’ I drop my voice to be discreet. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Myself?’ says Douglas, in a loud thespian tone. ‘I’ll have you know that I’ve never felt more like myself.’

‘You’ve been drinking quite a lot and I—’

‘I’m fine. It’s a pub crawl and it’s not my fault I’m not a lightweight like the rest of you.’ He tries to laugh it off, but it only highlights the lines and the redness on his face. It does nothing to reassure me.

Miles puts a tray of drinks down on the table.

‘I’m pretty sure that I’m going to regret this tomorrow when I’m too hungover to properly see the sights of Westerly,’ he says, sitting down. I go to take one of the drinks at the same time as Joel and our hands touch.

‘You go.’ He looks at me in the eye for the first time tonight without glaring.

‘No, you have it.’

‘There’s one for both of you,’ says Miles, dishing them out to us.

I rub my hand that touched Joel’s with my fingers; it’s still warm to the touch and it reminds me of how any time we used to find ourselves holding hands I’d get the same reaction.

‘If you’re in town tomorrow, you should join me and Joel, we’re going paddle boarding,’ says Verity.

‘I’m sure they’d be too busy sightseeing to come.’ Joel shakes his head, dismissing the idea.