‘I can have my stuff over at yours by teatime,’ I replied. I was so, so relieved and more than a little bit excited. ‘And I promise I won’t outstay my welcome. Thank you.’

She knocked the side of her head gently against mine and smiled. ‘You’ll stay as long as you need. No one’s moving at this time of year and I’m not going to turn you out onto the streets at Christmas, am I?’

‘I won’t hold you to that until you’ve lived with me for a couple of days,’ I said with a genuine grin. ‘What if I’m a nightmare housemate?’

‘Yeah, I can imagine what kind of nightmare you are.’ Jess pressed her hand against her forehead in mock horror. ‘Oh no, Fran cleaned out all the cupboards and is silently listening to ASMR videos in her room again. How will I ever cope?’

‘I have been known to leave washing in the machine overnight,’ I confessed and she pretended to fall off her chair. ‘Honestly, Jess, you’re amazing.’

‘Right, fine, it’s all settled, enough’s enough,’ she said, the Yorkshire in her coming out to put a stop to any display of excessive sentimentality. ‘Now, perhaps you can explain how you went from popping down to London for a temp job to ending up on a yacht on your way to the Crystal Ball, then came home and dumped your fiancé inside a week? What happened?’

I inched further away from the cold window, pulling the sleeves of my sweatshirt over my hands. The radiators were most certainly not working in the café today. ‘It’s a long story,’ I said, not sure where to start.

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Jess replied, picking up her coffee and taking a sip, and I had genuinely never been more appreciative for another human being than I was in that moment.

‘So, I left for London last Thursday morning and—’

Before I could finish my sentence, Jess whacked me across the chest and pointed at something out the window. ‘Sorry to interrupt but have a look at that,’ she gasped as I gingerly rubbed my right boob. ‘There is a man over the road, and he is not from around here.’

‘Please tell me he hasn’t got curly blond hair and a fedora?’ I said, my chest seized with terror.

‘I said man, not twat,’ she replied. ‘Look at him. Do you think he’s lost?’

Across the road, a tall, dark-haired man climbed out of a shiny black Range Rover and when he turned around to face the café, I almost fell out of my chair. Our eyes met through the window, his face breaking into a huge grin as mine went completely blank.

‘Evan?’ I gasped.

‘Evan?’ Jess asked.

‘Evan,’ I confirmed, standing as he walked into the café. ‘Is this really happening or am I having a psychotic break?’