‘Paddle boarding. Don’t you mean paddle boring?’ Renata laughs.

I think back to my time on the water with Joel and there was nothing boring about it.

‘I found it relaxing. Have you ever tried it?’

‘No, I’m more of an adrenaline junkie; I like to keep my heart rate up. I’m going wing foiling in a couple of weeks.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Imagine a smaller paddle board that has a hydrofoil that hangs down underneath and it elevates the board out of the water so it feels like it’s hovering. Then you have an inflatable that you hang onto that catches the wind and propels you along.’

‘That sounds terrifying.’

‘It’s really not. Much easier than kitesurfing and looks pretty cool. You should give it a go.’

‘Maybe I will.’

I’ll have to mention it to Joel when I next see him; it sounds like it would be right up his street.

‘So, what have you been up to?’ I ask.

‘What haven’t I been up to?’ she says with a cackle, launching into a precis of what she’s been doing over the last month. She’s one of those women who always reminded me of Soph, burning the candle at both ends and being completely unashamed of who she is and what she’s doing. Only as Renata tells a story of her at a party with minor TV stars, it makes me realise how wrong I was about how Soph would grow up. Whilst she’s still got that spark and energy, she’s definitely calmed down with age. But from Renata’s stories she’s gone the opposite way and I can’t help but blush when she reaches the punchline about her and a well-known children’s TV presenter.

‘Speaking of nights out getting out of hand,’ she says, composing herself after the story, ‘you nearly broke Miles at the weekend. He was a mess at work until at least Wednesday.’

‘It was the pub golf that did it.’

‘Pub golf,’ she says with a snort. ‘Is that what happened? I couldn’t get anything out of him. He just said that something he drank had disagreed with him.’

‘More like the amount he drank disagreed with him.’

Renata laughs and sinks back her drink.

‘These go down far too easily. Do you want another?’

She gestures at the glass in my hand.

‘No, I’m fine with this.’

‘What is that, anyway? Looks interesting.’

‘Lime and soda.’

‘It’s non-alcoholic?’ Her eyebrows tell me exactly what she thinks about that.

‘Yeah, I’m taking a breather from drinking for a bit.’ I still can’t face it after the pub golf.

‘You’re not pregnant are you?’ Her eyes flit down to my stomach.

‘No, I’m definitely not.’

‘You’re definitely not what?’ asks Miles as he joins us, the guy he was talking to about crypto having disappeared.