Then I’m on the inside of a massive hug, and it feels like the entire world has its spaghetti arms around me. I forget about being angry with Lou for what she nearly did. I forget about being angry with Danny for being the one she told. And I totally forget about playing it cool in case things don’t work out with him, which has always been my plan. I can even overlook the fact that my uncle smells like a brewery, but I’m looking forward to what George has got to say about it.

Over his shoulder, I see the driver step out of the cab. She gives me a nod, then takes out her phone and leans against the door like she knows this might take a minute. And really, the only thing that doesn’t surprise me about the last thirty seconds is that Danny’s blagged himself the best-looking cab driver in London.

He’s still squeezing me hard and talking at a hundred miles an hour into my ear. I can’t make it all out, but there are a bunch of I’m sorrys, several so bloody worrieds, a couple of she’s going to be OK, I promises, and a solitary, probably a bit too loud for this neighbourhood, thank fuck, Wolfie. Obviously my favourite.

When I feel my uncle’s grip relax and he starts to lean out of the hug, I close my eyes and hear the sound of a river and the words of a wise, wise man, and I do the first thing that comes into my head. I pull him back in.

Vamos, chica. You go, girl.

‘Cheers, Uncle Danny.’

49

Danny

We almost could have walked there quicker, but Jaz insisted on finishing the job properly and driving us right to the door.

‘Your uncle’s a VIP as far as I’m concerned, love.’ I looked over in time to see the wink she gave Wolfie. ‘A couple of hundred quid in fares does wonders for your credibility.’

We climbed back into the cab for the thirty-second journey home, and as we crawled along, I could feel Wolfie’s eyes boring into the side of my head.

‘What?’

‘Uncle Danny.’ I realised how bloody much I loved the sound of that. ‘Did you really spend two hundred pounds driving around in a black cab with’ – she glanced up into the rear-view mirror at Jaz and smiled – ‘this absolute babe, on the off chance I was just wandering the streets waiting for you to spot me?’

‘Yeah, well, you know. Easy come, easy go. Couldn’t think of better value for money if I tried.’ Wolfie looked at me through half a fringe, and for a split second I was in the back seat of our family car sitting next to little Lou. ‘Anyway, I’d have spent ten times that much if I’d thought I’d actually find you.’

‘Bloody hell, feel free to look me up next time then, big spender!’ Jaz was teasing, of course, but I think we both knew I’d been dead serious. And I’m also pretty sure I knew I was never really going to find Wolfie when I set off on that drunken cab ride to nowhere. Maybe I’d just needed to not do nothing.