‘I bet.’ Then my thoughts shifted to the others. ‘Saying goodbye was sad.’ I could feel him nodding, but I didn’t trust myself to look at him. Tears prickled my eyes.

Around midnight, I had started to feel fatigue kick in. I walked over to Josh – or more likely, I swayed over to him – and put my arms around his neck. Then like a complete dork I said that Top Gun line about taking me to bed or losing me forever. Thank goodness, he is not so much younger than me that he didn’t get the reference, but still, how cheesy is that? But instead of laughing at me, he kissed me.

Then we said our goodbyes to Gary and Marie.

‘You have to come visit us in Cali,’ said Gary. It was the sort of thing people said when it was likely they’d never see each other again. But I really wanted to see them again, and I hoped it wasn’t an empty invitation.

‘I’d love it,’ Josh and I both said at the same time. We looked at each other and smiled. Then I realised we had both said ‘I’, and not ‘we’.

I stepped in and hugged Marie tightly. ‘Good luck with the adoption,’ I whispered. ‘You absolutely must keep me posted.’

She pulled away and placed her hands on my shoulders. ‘I promise to let you know what happens. And you do the same.’ She inclined her head ever so slightly towards Josh. I nodded and smiled, and we hugged again.

I stood on tippy-toes to hug Gary. ‘You are a prince amongst men,’ I said in his ear.

‘And you are a wonderful woman.’ He couldn’t see me smile at his words. Then his voice got a little quieter. ‘Make sure he treats you well.’ A hard lump of sadness lodged in my throat. When we pulled apart, I forced a smile.

Lastly, it was Hannah – dear, sad, lovely, angry Hannah. At first, she seemed reluctant to tear herself away from Ray and George, the gay couple who had all but adopted her. But then she was hugging me so tight, I couldn’t breathe properly.

‘You are a sweet, beautiful girl and I will never forget you,’ she said into my ear. I hadn’t expected that.

‘Me neither, Hannah.’ I broke the hug first and when we stepped back, I held on to one of her hands. ‘Be happy.’ It was all I could think to say.

‘Sure,’ she said with a bright smile, but I didn’t believe her. Hannah was one of those people who had a difficult life, mostly because of her own doing. I saw in her eyes that she didn’t really believe herself either.