‘Lee and I are going to the Three Compasses,’ Gabi said, appearing beside her. ‘Want to come?’

The pub along the road was a regular haunt for some of the salsa students after class. Gabi had gone there on a Tuesday sometimes, but Anna had always made an excuse and headed home. It was clear from the way Gabi didn’t wait for an answer but busied herself putting on her jacket that she expected Anna to do the same tonight too.

Anna laced her sneakers and straightened. ‘Actually, I think I will. Just a quick one – and then I’ll head off and leave you two to have some time together.’

Gabi rewarded her with a dazzling smile. ‘Great! I’ll go and get Lee.’ She returned a short while later with her boyfriend, hanging onto his arm so tightly that Anna wasn’t sure there was a millimetre of space between their bodies. It gave her a little pang to watch them. She and Spencer had been just the same, even after they’d been married a few years.

Despite the fact that the south-east of England had been experiencing a bit of a heatwave for early May, great purple clouds loomed on the horizon and it had been drizzling steadily most of the evening. Anna observed Gabi and Lee, practically Velcroed together, as they hurried the short distance to the Three Compasses, her presence alongside them almost forgotten.

They were just at the door to the pub when Gabi stopped suddenly. ‘Oh, no,’ she said, looking down at her torso and feeling around her shoulders with her hands. ‘I think I left my scarf at the Civic Centre.’ She looked at Lee in horror. ‘It’s my favourite one, the one you bought me from Camden Market!’

Lee’s serious police officer side snapped to attention. ‘Where did you last see it?’

‘On one of the grey plastic chairs near the door,’ Gabi said, her brow furrowing.

‘You two go ahead,’ Lee said. ‘I’ll go back and find it.’

‘My hero,’ Gabi said softly, and he winked, saluted her, and jogged away.

Anna noticed him smile at a couple of girls heading for the pub, and when she turned to look at Gabi, she saw Gabi had noticed it too.

‘It’s okay,’ she said to Anna, as they pushed the ornately engraved glazed Victorian doors open and entered the pub. ‘It’s just how Lee is.’

‘I know…’ Anna said. Lee certainly was a notorious flirt.

Gabi looked serious. ‘I know he gives it all that south London, Cheeky Chappy banter, but you don’t need to worry. He told me he’s a one-man woman now.’

Anna chuckled. ‘Don’t you mean a one-woman man?’

Gabi made a face. ‘Yes. That! What I’m trying to say is that he has told me that I’ve got nothing to worry about. He’s all mine.’

‘I’m glad,’ Anna said. She so wanted this one to work out for Gabi.

When their drinks arrived, they moved away from the bar and found a little table in easy view of the door so Lee would find them when he returned. Indeed, it wasn’t long before the ornate doors swung open and he appeared, triumphant, waving Gabi’s scarf. He came over to the table and claimed a kiss as a reward as he looped it around his girlfriend’s neck, then reached for his waiting beer.