She brushed a hand over her skirt and sank onto the seat with a dramatic sigh as she assessed the woman opposite. Older than Allison had expected; she’d have put her at least twenty years older than she was, not ten. She didn’t like to stare but she guessed Jo had had cosmetic surgery… not by someone good, though; her face was stretched a tad too tight. And her hair was decidedly suspect. Too uniformly thick, it covered her head like an old-fashioned floor mop.

Trying to put her critical thoughts aside, she was relieved to see Jo’s initial forbidding expression soften.

‘You poor thing! Are you sure you’re okay?’

Allison shuffled on the seat and dropped her bag at her feet. ‘I had a bit of a shock and I’ll no doubt be multi-coloured later, but I didn’t break anything, so I suppose I’m lucky.’ She rested her hands on the table in front of her. ‘Never mind me and my clumsiness – it’s so great to meet you in the flesh at last.’

‘It is!’ Jo reached out and laid her hand briefly on top of Allison’s. ‘I was telling my husband how much we had in common.’ She took her hand away, picked up the menus and pushed one across the table. ‘Let’s order, then we can set the world to rights.’

‘I’m not terribly hungry.’ Allison glanced briefly at the menu before shutting it. ‘A Caesar salad will do for me.’

The cheapest item on the menu. Jo laughed in feigned disbelief. ‘Exactly what I was going to order! Seriously, we could be twins.’

‘And a glass of Pinot to wash it down?’

‘Sounds perfect.’

Allison gave the order when the waiter appeared. ‘Large glasses,’ she added when he’d taken note of their order. When he’d gone, she held a hand up in apology. ‘I’m sorry, I should have asked, is large okay with you?’

‘Of course. You read my mind.’

When the glasses of wine were placed before them only moments later, Allison raised hers in a toast. ‘To new friends!’ Expecting a smile in return, she was surprised by the odd expression that flickered across Jo’s face but before she could comment to ask if everything was okay, the expected smile appeared.

‘To new friends!’ Jo tipped her glass against Allison’s a little too hard. Wine lapped over the side and dripped to the pristine white tablecloth. ‘Oops.’

‘Seems to be a day for accidents.’ Allison took a napkin and dabbed the liquid. ‘Luckily we weren’t drinking red.’ She tossed the napkin to one side. ‘How’d your meeting go?’

Jo took a miniscule sip of her wine and put the glass down. ‘I work for a school. They’re keen on reducing their carbon footprint so that’s what the conference was on.’

‘Interesting?’