Hey Olive, look, I’m not getting any younger. I think the kids call it ‘yolo’, but do you fancy going for a drink?

He had clearly got my number from the group improv team WhatsApp group (it’s called ‘Mission Improvable’). I decide to ignore the cheesiness of his message. It’s hard out here for new daters – I should know. I reply saying yes and asking when and where. He replies: tomorrow, Barbican, 1 p.m.

I quite like this decisiveness. It’s refreshing.

Bea is sitting at the bar by the window. She has bought us two margaritas and is already licking the salt off the rim of the glass. She waves.

‘Hey, hey – sorry I had to order, was desperate for a drink,’ she says.

‘Good idea,’ I say, giving her a kiss on the cheek and taking off my coat. ‘You OK?’

‘Fine thanks. Just life, eh?’ she says, with a half-smile.

I notice she seems a little glum, and I assume it’s because of our little spat in the taxi on the way home from the CFBC event.

‘Life indeed. Cheers to the ongoing messiness of it,’ I say. We do a little clink and put our drinks back down. I decide to bite the bullet. ‘Look, I’m sorry about the other night, by the way, at the CFBC. It all got a bit intense, didn’t it.’

‘No, Ol, it’s me who should be apologizing. Let’s just put it behind us shall we? I think we both know it was a misunderstanding.’

I’m not sure if that’s strictly true, but I just want to make peace with my best friend. I hate all this group tension, it’s not like us.

‘Agreed. But really, everything OK?’

‘Kids are doing great. Touch wood it stays that way.’ She touches the table.

‘And Jeremy?’

‘Well.’ She coughs, and takes a massive sip of her margarita. ‘I cannot believe what I’m about to tell you.’ There is a long pause. She closes her eyes and inhales, and then opens them again slowly. ‘Jeremy … he’s been cheating on me.’

‘What?’

‘For a whole year.’

‘What?’ I feel like my eyes are going to jump out of my head like in a cartoon.

‘Yeah. I know. It’s just awful at home at the moment – if we’re in the same room we start arguing and the kids are now noticing, so we just need to be apart from each other as much as we can while we sort this all out.’

‘I’m so sorry, Bea. When did you find out?’

‘Last week, although I’d had suspicions before then. It didn’t sink in. Still hasn’t. I suppose I didn’t want it to be true? I was in shock. I knew he was working away a lot, but I never thought he would jeopardize our relationship. I found emails and texts on our shared iPad.’

‘Jesus. I can’t believe it either. What a fool. How dare he?’ I’m enraged, and to think we all liked Jeremy, he seemed like one of the most genuine guys. I might expect this from Chris, but not Jeremy.