I felt my stomach clench as she shifted eyes from me to Faith and then Lily, before settling on me again. There was a cigarette dangling from her mouth and a lighter clasped between half-raised hands. And I felt the prickle of tears even more so then.

‘Betty …’ I started, but she closed the gap between us and kissed my cheek.

‘Literally could not give less of a shit.’ She leaned back and sparked up. ‘Who’s the girl?’

The tears poured out of me, then, but they were paired with fierce laughter. I sobbed against Faith’s shoulder – a little with sadness but mostly with joy – and fenced questions from Betty – ‘Big knockers?’ – that I knew she was only asking to lighten the load of … everything! When I’d finished, Faith unleashed me into Betty’s clutches for a full cuddle and as she pressed her hands flat against my back to pull me to her, she whispered, ‘You deserve better than where you’re at right now, babe, that’s all I’m going to say.’ And I found that I was crying again. The arrival of Cora and Molly halted the share-time, though, and we flocked to tending to Molly’s every need for all of ten minutes.

Cora was the one to break the tension between us. ‘What did we miss?’

Betty winked at me and exhaled a stream of smoke. ‘Edi is thinking of shagging a woman.’

‘No bloody wonder.’ Molly rubbed at her bare arms and made a show of shivering. ‘Any chance the non-smokers can migrate towards the dance floor and the smokers can join us when they’ve finished with their …’ She waved her hand in Lily’s direction. ‘Vice.’

Lily tilted her head back and released a plume of smoke over us. ‘Everyone has something.’

‘You’re not wrong.’ Cora pushed through the group to link arms with me. ‘Mine happens to be booze, though, and it’s Edi’s round, so if I just steer you …’

‘That’s it?’ I stood rooted and looked around the group. ‘That’s actually it?’

‘What, do you want a flag rolled out?’ Molly joked.

Lily exhaled hard again. ‘They actually have a flag.’ Her voice was still thick with smoke.

Faith snorted. ‘They?’

‘I feel like we’re getting off-topic here,’ Betty added, and Faith threw her a look of surprise. For Betty to steer a conversation towards where it was meant to be, was nearly unheard of. Unless there was something she really wanted to say. ‘Babe, if you mean, that’s it, about the woman thing … I can’t speak for the others, mind you—’

‘Although you often do.’

Betty nodded. ‘Sure, what Lil said. I can’t speak for them now, but I genuinely couldn’t give less of a shit if I tried. And I say that with sincerity and love.’

Cora squeezed my arm. ‘What she said. Now will you buy me a drink?’