She didn’t sit down. Susan and Stan did the dog dance, moving in tight, excited circles as they sniffed at each other’s rear end. Then the Pekingese-Chihuahua cross had suddenly had enough and turned and yapped in his face. Stan backed off immediately, tail between his legs, edging closer to me for protection.

‘Fancy bumping into you,’ Natasha said. ‘What’s the lovely old English saying? Accidentally on purpose. Hello, Stan.’

At least she was pleased to see my dog.

‘It’s a good saying,’ I said. ‘I went to your old apartment block but they said you had moved.’

‘Just across the park. Marylebone. I downsized.’

I held out the manila envelope to her. ‘Your videotape. I wanted to return it.’

She took it from me without speaking, her mouth tightening. She still hadn’t sat down. She wasn’t going to now. Not with the videotape of that old rugby match in her hand.

‘I also wanted to say that you were right, and I was wrong. About how your late husband lost his eye. I was rough and rude. And I’m sorry, I really am.’ I shrugged. ‘That’s it.’

‘And what did you think might happen? Did you think you were going to return my VHS tape and say sorry and then I would take you home with me and have wild sex?’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘it crossed my mind.’

She shook her head. ‘We missed our moment,’ she said.

I was surprised how sad that made me.

‘Did we really?’

‘Yes. Men and women have a moment and sometimes they just miss it. Bad timing.’

‘Like missing a flight?’

‘Exactly like missing a flight.’

My phone was in front of me on the table. It began to vibrate. WREN CALLING, it said.

Natasha laughed. ‘We don’t even know each other.’

‘I know you,’ I said. ‘You’re one of those party girls with a good heart who wants to settle down but chooses the wrong man and then it all falls to pieces. You can see yourself getting harder and more cynical and you don’t like it because you were expecting a better life. Stop me if I’m getting warm.’

My phone was still vibrating.

‘Story of my life,’ Natasha said. ‘But what kind of man are you? Are you one of those men who stop looking at a woman so he can look at his little phone? The world is full of those men. That’s not what I want.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘That’s not me. I can’t stand guys like that. I’m actually thinking of getting rid of this phone.’ WREN CALLING. ‘But you know what? I do have to take this call.’

‘Of course you do.’

Natasha scooped up her Pekingese-Chihuahua cross and walked away on those long legs. Without turning round, she raised one hand in farewell.

I picked up the phone.