‘Who?’ He blinks.

‘The girl you loved.’

‘I didn’t love a girl!’ He frowns. ‘I’ve never been in love really, have you?’

I am confused. Very confused. He looks confused as well.

I take a big gulp of the drink he bought for me and decide to play along, then steer things back to him. Subtly. Although I’m not good at subtle when I’ve had a few drinks. ‘I thought I was, but it wasn’t proper love, it was—’

‘Safe! You went for somebody you just liked. Very wise. But,’ he looks around as though he’s expecting somebody to be eavesdropping, ‘I know somebody who was totally in love! Off his head, completely, doo-lally, bonkers in love.’

‘You do? It wasn’t you; it was somebody else?’

‘Oh God, yeah. And it ruined him. He’s ruined. Totally ruined, a mess.’ He shakes his head and looks genuinely upset. ‘Broken into little bits. That’s what love does. Do you want another drink? I’m parched. Back in a minute.’

I watch him weave his way to the bar. I’ve never seen Noah drunk. And I’ve never heard him use the ‘L’ word before either.

I feel a bit tipsy myself, but not so tipsy that I don’t need to hear the rest of this.

‘So,’ he plonks himself back down, and takes a swig of his drink. ‘Drink up, cheers!’

‘Cheers! This guy?’

‘Jed! It’s Jed!’

‘Jed?’ I frown. The name rings a bell. ‘Oh Jed!’

‘You know him too?’ He looks confused. ‘What a bloody coincidence. Miserable git, isn’t he?’

‘I don’t know him. The day we met, when I’d been stood up?’ He nods. ‘You said you’d met him for a drink.’

He nods violently. ‘You sure you want to hear this? It’s sad. Very sad.’ He pulls a sad face, it’s a bit of a pantomime face, but there’s more to it than that. His eyes look sad. It’s important, I’m sure of it.

‘Tell me about Jed.’

‘O-kay.’ He draws the word out, swigs his drink and takes a deep breath. ‘I met Jed at uni and he was dating this girl he’d grown up with. Millie.’ He smiles. ‘She was lovely. Pretty and funny. Bit like you.’ He glances at me, twirls a lock of my hair absentmindedly then lets his hand fall away. ‘They were so good together, they got married as soon as we graduated, and they were still just as loved-up.’

‘What happened?’ I whisper. ‘What did she do?’

‘She died.’

Whatever I’d expected him to say, it wasn’t that. Then I remember his comment before, about going out with Jed because it was the anniversary of his wife’s death.

‘She went and fucking died. Car crash. Over. Gone.’ He waves his hands around, then rests them back on the table.

‘Oh my God, no.’ I put my hand over his; there’s pure shocking bitterness in his tone.