She doesn’t think of herself as a liar – these things she’s telling Mel, she says only to protect her. Her statements are a glossing over, like painting a picture of how she wants everything to be. How she’s sure they could be if she tries a little harder. She just needs a bit more time.

‘You’re a strong person, Abby. You’ve been through so much and look at you now. I’d have totally fallen apart.’

Mel is just being kind – she would have dealt with everything a whole lot better than Abby did. Than she still is. She appreciates her friend’s words, though. Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of yourself, and it’s nice to have a reminder from someone who knows you well.

‘No, you wouldn’t,’ Abby replies. She’s about to ask her how Fergus is, but Mel jumps in again. ‘So how does it feel to be a married woman?’

A question that is easy to answer. ‘It feels… really good. Like we’re a team.’ This is true, yet she and Rob were together for three years before they said their vows, so not much is different. They’d lived together for two of those years, knew each other inside and out before they stood in that church. Sometimes Abby loves that about them; other times she wonders if it’s good to know someone as intimately as you knew yourself.

‘Ah, you two make me sick!’ Mel jokes. ‘Do you realise you’ve set a dangerously high bar here for everyone else?’ She laughs, and Abby can picture her face, how sweet she looks when she smiles.

‘How’s Fergus?’ she finally has the chance to ask. He and Mel met during their teacher training but had only got together a few months ago. Mel, only a couple of years younger than Abby, has never had a long-term relationship. It isn’t a deliberate choice; things just never seem to work out for her. She’s never bitter, though, and Abby never feels awkward discussing Rob with her. Not that she does this any more – not since they got married; it feels disrespectful discussing intimate details of her marriage with anyone else, even Mel. This is one change being married has brought about.

‘Oh, Fergus is fine. It’s early days, though, so I’m not reading too much into it. It’s funny, but now I’m thirty-three I almost don’t care if I end up single. There’s more to life, isn’t there? And I really can’t be bothered with dating apps; all of that feels like too much trouble. As long as I’ve got my friends and Benji I’ll be fine.’

‘How is the pup?’

‘High-maintenance, but that’s guys for you.’ Right on cue, her Labrador barks in the background.