‘What?!’ demanded Hannah. She looked annoyed.

‘Hey, we’re not making fun – we all agree with you.’ Marie, ever the diplomat.

‘Oh,’ Hannah said, a little contrite. ‘That’s cool, actually. If you think about it, we didn’t even know each other a week ago, and here we are, girlfriends out for the night.’ She smiled.

‘That’s so sweet, Hannah,’ said Gerry. ‘Now I want a drink so I can cheers to my girlfriends.’

Another endearing mangling of English from Gerry – and I don’t mean that condescendingly. Spanish was her native tongue, and she spoke far more English than I spoke Spanish, that’s for sure. In fact, I still only know about fourteen words of Spanish, and most of those are menu items. What I admired about Gerry was how she charged into the depths of English, fearlessly embracing the idioms – that was the endearing part.

A gorgeous – and I mean Greek-god-gorgeous – waiter came to the table to take our order. Even Marie raised her eyebrows at me and she was married to a Harrison Ford lookalike. Hannah had commandeered the cocktail menu, and she selected four drinks without the three of us having any say. She practically shooed the waiter away to fetch them.

‘So, Hannah, what are we having?’ asked Marie.

‘You’ll see.’ She smiled to herself. ‘Trust me, ladies, this is one of my superpowers – selecting the perfect drink for my girls. It’s one of the things I do back home with my girlfriends.’

‘Do you go out a lot in Vancouver?’ asked Marie.

‘I guess – what’s ‘a lot’?’ replied Hannah.

‘Well, I don’t go out much with my girlfriends – maybe, if we’re lucky, four or five times a year – so I guess, anything more than that.’

I couldn’t work out if Hannah was shocked or if she pitied Marie. Maybe it was both.

‘By those standards, yes, I go out a lot. Usually a couple of times a week. Vancouver has an amazing bar scene. You can choose exactly what kind of night you want – are you going out for a rowdy night drinking beer and eating bar food? Do you want something more sophisticated? Somewhere like this for cocktails? There are some awesome speak-easies – some with live jazz. So, yeah. I mean, I’m single –’ an edge crept into her voice ‘– and I like to enjoy myself. The friends I go out with are super fun, so I guess I do go out a lot.’

Marie smiled, and there was a touch of sadness in it. I think it may have been her who pitied Hannah – or maybe she empathised. Hannah said a lot about being an independent woman, but I was pretty sure she was hoping to find someone special to share her life with.

The drinks arrived.