We order food, and the conversation turns to more general things – work, holidays, what everyone will be doing for Christmas. The food is fancy – not the Chinese food I am used to, slumped on the overstuffed sofa at the flat with Mags – there are fat, plump dim sum crammed full of seafood and chicken, thinly sliced duck, bowls of fragrant rice. I struggle with the chopsticks, having never learnt to use them properly, and my cheeks burn as Sadie whispers to a waiter and he returns a few minutes later with a knife and fork, laying them carefully on the table next to me. It doesn’t take long for the conversation to turn into a game of ‘remember when’, and I paste a smile on my face as they all talk about things that happened long before I met Rupert.

‘Remember the Norway flight, Rupert?’ Sadie gives a ladylike snort of laughter as Rupert grins and covers his face with his hands.

‘Never been on a flight like it, before or since,’ he laughs. ‘It was so rough even I was throwing up, and I always say I’ve a cast-iron stomach.’

‘Caro was the only one who didn’t look like she’d been run over,’ Amanda says, turning to me. ‘It was horrendous, Emily, the worst flight we’ve ever been on.’

‘I can imagine,’ I say, wishing desperately that the conversation would turn back to things we can all discuss.

‘Or that time we went to the college wrestling, and Miles got given an atomic wedgie.’ Will can barely get the words out he’s laughing so hard, which sets the others off as Miles bangs the table in protest.

‘No, no, I gave him an atomic wedgie!’

They all erupt into hysterics, as I sit there forcing out laughter, feeling alone and adrift as they reminisce about things that I have no idea about. I finish my drink and wait, staring into my empty glass with its sticky egg foam wash around the rim, trying not to make my discomfort evident until finally Will says, ‘Come on, guys, let’s not forget about Emily, she wasn’t around for this stuff, remember? Sorry, Em.’

‘It’s OK,’ I say, injecting amusement into my tone, ‘it’s very interesting to hear what Rupert got up before I was on the scene.’

Rupert gives me a small smile and a wink, and says, ‘Nothing as interesting as the things I get up to now you are on the scene.’

The table falls silent, and I feel it again, the ghost of Caro filling the room as clearly as if she were sat at the table next to me.

‘Let’s go dancing,’ Will says, jumping up from the table, and the thick silence is broken. ‘Girls, are you up for a night of wild clubbing?’