The day she ended up sitting beside John at the ‘Unknown Universe’ lecture had been a pivotal one. At the end of the lecture she’d realized that her wet umbrella had been leaning against his bag and was terribly embarrassed, apologizing for her clumsiness, but to her relief, he’d laughed it off. ‘These things happen,’ he’d said, and she’d noticed what nice brown eyes he had, what an open, friendly face. ‘I suppose I could forgive you, for a glass of wine . . .’

Oh! Was he flirting with her? she’d wondered in surprise. Be fun, she reminded herself hurriedly. Not wifely – fun! She found herself thinking of Michelle Crossley, the most outrageous girl in Robyn’s sixth form, who’d gone off to work as a croupier in Las Vegas after A-levels and was still living the American high life, according to Facebook. Be more Michelle. ‘I thought you would never ask!’ she cried, laughing and trying to make her eyes go sparkly (she’d been practising in front of the mirror, for this very reason). ‘Hey, let’s go wild and make it a bottle.’

Goodness, but it was quite hard work being fun, she had decided after three weeks of dating John, when she’d drunk far more than she usually did, and her feet ached from dancing in wine bars along Swinegate. She and John seemed to be getting on brilliantly, but secretly she was starting to wonder if there was such a thing as too much fun. Maybe he was out of her league and she should stop pretending, and admit that she was actually quite a lot more sensible and boring than she’d made out. But then, a few weeks before Christmas, she met the Mortimers and changed her mind.

‘It’s our Paula’s birthday on Saturday,’ John had said, looking sheepish. ‘And Mum’s insisting I bring you along for one of her party teas. Do you mind? They’re a bit full-on, my family, so if you don’t fancy it, I won’t blame you . . .’

Robyn had been intrigued. More to the point, she’d always found meeting people’s parents a lot easier than necking cocktails and trying to dance in a sexy way. ‘Sounds good to me,’ she’d said cheerfully.