‘Pffft!’ I hissed, thinking that if Emma wanted to know what a life that wasn’t easy looked like, she could try mine for size.

Ben ignored me and carried on. ‘You know that she’s got issues but she’s a good person and I love her.’

I sighed. God, he was nauseating sometimes! ‘Look,’ I began, swallowing down the venom I desperately wanted to spew. ‘I know all that. But she makes me feel like I’m not good enough for you. As if she looks down her nose at me …’

‘She really doesn’t … she’s not like that at all.’

‘Well, I’m just telling you how she makes me feel – and you can’t argue with how I feel, can you?’

Ben gave a small, dry laugh. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I can’t.’

Ben’s parents were easier to avoid as they lived in Suffolk and although I knew Ben often met Peter for lunch in London, he didn’t expect me to go, too.

I had absolutely no desire to spend any more time than necessary with his twittering idiot of a mother and would always invent an illness or a hastily arranged trip that I swore I had told Ben about if he ever suggested a weekend in Suffolk.

But prising Ben away from his friends was another matter entirely. He seemed to be obsessed with Matt, his best friend, and was always suggesting dinners with him and his wife, Freya.

When I realized that I could no longer keep making excuses, I reluctantly agreed to a night at their flat. ‘You’re going to love them so much!’ Ben exclaimed, giving my hand a squeeze as we walked up to the front door. ‘I can’t wait for them to meet you.’

I smiled dutifully and pretended to be nervous, clutching the flowers I’d bought closer to my chest. ‘I hope they don’t hate me,’ I told him, biting my lip for good measure.

Ben’s eyes widened. ‘Of course they won’t hate you! They’ll love you as much as I do.’ He planted a kiss on the top of my head, causing me to grit my teeth.

Matt opened the door with a wide smile and pulled Ben into a laddish embrace. I had forgotten how attractive Matt was, actually. The only time I had seen him before, I was concentrating so hard on snaring Ben that I hadn’t taken much notice of him. He also seemed to have quite a good sense of humour and was a bit less drippy than Ben. I clocked his eyes roaming over my body and thought what a shame it was that I couldn’t have a pop at him, but decided that being pregnant and his best friend’s new girlfriend meant that anything more was unlikely. I didn’t want to look too pushy, so I just gave him a small, playful wave rather than a kiss.

Matt’s wife, Freya, came out to greet us and I presented her with the flowers, which she took shyly, looking slightly overawed. I was pleased to see that, just like Ben’s boring ex, she was nothing special to look at, so I wouldn’t have had much competition if I did decide to make a move on Matt. Yes, she was pretty enough and had an annoyingly sexy figure, but she wasn’t outstanding in any way. She certainly wasn’t in my league. I knew that she and Charlotte had been very close and I could sense immediately that she was unsure about me, so decided to launch a charm offensive to win them both over.