That’s what had drawn me to her too. She was one of those people who the gods had blessed. Even the hard stuff didn’t seem like a struggle to her; she just smiled and dealt with whatever life threw up – which was, admittedly, quite a lot of hilarious dating stories and men falling at her feet, desperate to buy her things. Once she had the whole La Mer skincare line sent to her desk followed by one hundred red roses, and last Valentine’s Day two blokes had got in a fight in the downstairs lobby when they both turned up to take her out. As they were interviewed by the police for public disturbance, a third guy had pulled up on his motorbike, but Adzo had decided she’d rather go out for a drink with me, anyway. Alexander had been away on business that night and she knew I wouldn’t be rushing home. The less she cared about men, the more they chased her.

‘I thought you could do with the sugars. And I know this sounds peculiar, but,’ she added, coming to sit beside me on the bed again, ‘I just learned about this. Add this to it.’ She showed me a tiny sachet.

‘Salt?’

‘It’s what the tennis pros do when they’re dehydrated, apparently. I figured with all the crying … just trust me. It will help.’

I drank. She studied me.

‘You’re cultivating quite the look, by the way.’

‘Am I a mess?’

‘A beautiful one,’ she replied, kindly. ‘But if you go and take a shower I’ll change your sheets, okay?’

I shook my head. ‘But they smell of him,’ I protested. I knew how pathetic I sounded.

‘They smell of sweat and heartache, Annie,’ she pressed. ‘You deserve nice sheets, darling.’

I thought about it.

‘Okay?’ she pushed.

‘Fine.’ I decided that, in the list of things worth fighting about, that didn’t make the cut. ‘Fresh sheets. But at least let me sleep in another one of his T-shirts. I know it’s stupid, but I don’t care. It helps.’

She’d already started peeling the pillowcases off. ‘Deal. But throw that one through the door once it’s off,’ she instructed, gesturing to the rugby shirt that clung to my sticky limbs. ‘I think we’re going to have to burn it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it could walk itself to the fire pit.’

‘Ha-ha,’ I replied, pulling it up from the tops of my thighs and tugging it over my head. ‘Very funny.’ I did notice my body odour as I lifted up my arms, though, so she wasn’t totally without a point.