Alexa almost laughed, in spite of herself. Ellen was, as ever, very good at this. Trying not to turn her head, she glanced up at Ben through her eyelashes. He was self-absorbed, frowning now, and felt very distant from her. Ellen had rather punctured the mood.

She was continuing now. ‘Anyway, I had spent seventeen years waiting for someone to write something like this to me.’ She sighed, dramatically. ‘And then less than a week later, he went totally silent on me …’ A calculated pause. ‘He ghosted me. And we never spoke again.’

Ellen crossed her arms, resting her case.

Alexa inhaled deeply. She had been expecting that. She hung her head and stole a sideways glance at Ben. He and Jack were both staring at Ellen dumbly. As the seconds ticked by, there was a ring of anti-climax in the air.

‘Well?’ Ellen said, impatiently. She rounded on Ben, wild-eyed. ‘What do you have to say to all that?’

‘Um …’ he started, eventually, before trailing off. He squared his shoulders and sat up a little straighter and took a deep breath before he continued. ‘I mean, that wasn’t me.’ His voice was steady.

‘It was,’ Ellen flashed back. Her cheeks were a little pink.

‘It wasn’t,’ Ben replied. He sounded apologetic now, though the expression in his eyes was rather hard. He shook his head. ‘It really wasn’t,’ he repeated. ‘No way. I never had an MSN girlfriend who –’

‘It was you!’ Ellen interrupted. She laughed, disbelievingly. ‘Rainham_romeo1991, that was you! That was your name, we’ve already established that.’

There was a pause.

‘You did say it was your name,’ Alexa agreed, quietly.

‘Yeah, no, of course.’ He looked at Alexa, his hands raised in surrender. His eyes were dark and deep. ‘It was definitely my awful screen name. There’s no doubt about that …’ He paused. ‘But I definitely didn’t have an MSN relationship with someone for months. I’d remember that. And I never wrote a letter like that. I’d remember that too.’ He found Alexa’s eyes again.

She offered him a weak smile, aware that Ellen was watching them both.

‘Maybe someone else had the same name?’ Jack tried, slowly.

‘I doubt it,’ Ellen said, sharply.

‘Maybe you … maybe you got it mixed up?’ Jack said. His voice sounded slightly muffled, as though he was speaking into his chest.

Ellen shook her head, her expression flat.

Ben sat up. His hand brushed Alexa’s as he rearranged his legs. ‘Look, I’m sorry, but I’d remember if I’d … I’m sure I would …’ He trailed off, thinking. He tried a half-smile. ‘Hey, maybe we spoke at some point, and that’s why you remember the name?’

Ellen scowled.