Third time lucky, Mum, Robyn teased in her head and she rolled her eyes. ‘Ridiculous,’ she muttered under her breath, but she was smiling all the same and reading through his message again. Oh, but she’d been so desperately in love with him, back in the day. How she’d idolized that boy! No doubt he had been married forever by now, though, she reminded herself sternly. He’d probably be madly devoted to his beautiful wife – he’d mentioned a grandson, hadn’t he? A whole gang of jug-eared kids as well then, she bet. The good ones were always married.

Still, was she going to accept his friend request? Of course she blooming well was. And was she going to write back to him? You bet. And were those actually butterflies flipping and flapping in her stomach, a giddy feeling as if she’d just been on the waltzers at a fairground? Yes. Yes, it was. Who would have thought?

Fired up by nostalgia, she typed back a message immediately:

Dear Tom,

Goodness me, yes, of course I remember you. I am delighted to be reminded of you! How lovely to hear from you, after all these years.

Life has been pretty good to me on the whole, barring a few shocks along the way. I am widowed, but have a lovely daughter, Robyn, and two wonderful grandchildren, and live in Harrogate. I run my own business empire . . . well, I’m a self-employed mobile hairdresser, anyway. Same difference!

How about you? Tell me more. Are you still in Bournemouth? Are you happy? I still hear from Deborah Grayling sometimes – do you remember, my best friend with the blonde bob who worked in the tea rooms. She’s in Poole these days, running a little gift shop.

She paused and then backspaced through the lines about Deborah, frowning and thinking he might not want to hear a load of old woman’s gossip. Then she remembered the vow she and Robyn had made each other about being brave – the pact she’d made with Fate, too, about saying yes, and dared herself to up the ante. Well, why not? If this was the universe presenting her with an opportunity, then the least she could do was make it clear she was interested:

Funnily enough, I was thinking about you (fondly!) the other week when I went on a blind date. I was quite nervous about the whole thing, as I felt horribly out of practice, but then, for some reason, I found myself remembering our first date at the cinema – and it reminded me how much fun dating could be, with the right person. Sadly, this recent date was a complete disaster – very much NOT the right person! – but never mind!!