“I was working in an office on a big industrial estate, similar to this,” he said, “miles from any shops. There was a staff cafeteria, but it didn’t sell anything healthy, and the vending machines just sold sugar and salt, in one form or another. And all the people in the office would complain about it, that they were putting on weight. They’d forget to bring in something from home and there were no shops nearby, so they’d end up eating junk food. And I just thought, what if you could get healthy snacks delivered to you at work? It’s worked out really well. Some people have something delivered every day, others once a week, usually on a Monday morning or a Friday afternoon. We’re doing pretty well.” He laughed. “It’s amazing what people will buy if it’s in small enough quantities and cute enough packaging.”

“Interesting,” I said. “But to judge whether it’s a really good idea, I’d have to sample them, of course.”

He laughed again. “I’ll arrange that.”

I’d given him my résumé when I met him and now he pulled it out of the envelope.

“So you were made redundant from Jackson and Greene?”

“Yes, they closed their offices here and moved up to Edinburgh,” I said. “I was PA to the MD, Leo Jackson.”

“And you didn’t want to move up there? It’s a beautiful city.”

“My husband’s doing well in his job here,” I said. “He didn’t want to move.” I didn’t tell him that as Tom earned more, he had the final say. “His son’s here, too, so he wants to stay close. And Edinburgh’s much more expensive.” We were just about to make the final payments on our mortgage; as Tom had said, it didn’t make sense to start borrowing again.

Harry was quiet, reading through my résumé. “Oh, you went to Liverpool University?” he asked. “I did, too, a few years before you, though.” For the next couple of hours I don’t think we said another word about work. We found we had so much in common; we’d both lived in the Penny Lane area, had gone to the same bars, spent the summer evenings in Sefton Park.

For those two days we were alone and by the time I left the office on Friday evening, I felt as though I’d known him for months. That night, we went down in the elevator together and there was a moment where we both reached out to press the button for the ground floor and our hands touched.