‘I can’t tell you how happy I am to see a familiar face, Ange. I’ve only just moved to London and I’ve got to say, I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.’

Jack was originally from Manchester and as they waited for their drinks, he explained that he’d moved back in with his parents after university, given up on law, and got a job as a runner for a TV production company. He had quickly worked his way up the ladder and into a city centre flat with a friend, before being offered a new job in London.

‘It was too good an opportunity to turn down but apart from a handful of people from university who I haven’t spoken to in ages, I don’t really know anyone in London,’ he said.

Angie doubted it would take Jack very long to make new friends but she could imagine how overwhelming it must feel to move to a new place. And as a loyal Londoner born and bred, she had wanted to make him fall in love with her city. If he happened to fall in love with her too, she had reflected later, perhaps that wouldn’t be a terrible thing. But she convinced herself that she was only joking because she had always assumed that Jack the jock wasn’t hers for the taking.

‘I’ll take you out,’ she had informed him as she collected her coffee. ‘Show you all the places to be, introduce you to some of my friends. How about this weekend?’

‘Perfect,’ Jack said, reaching for his phone so that he could take her number. ‘I’m looking forward to it already.’

Then his coffee arrived and they parted ways. As she dashed to the office, clutching her hot drink, she could feel herself grinning from ear to ear.

They arranged to meet at a bar in Islington the following Saturday. He turned up twenty minutes late and scanned the crowded room with an easy confidence before spotting her sitting in a booth with her friends. As he waved and headed towards them, her friend Carly hissed into her ear, ‘Blimey, Angie, you didn’t tell me your old mate was hot. What’s his story?’

‘I don’t know,’ Angie hissed back. ‘I haven’t seen him for years.’

‘Well, I get first dibs if he’s single and straight,’ Carly replied, smoothing her hair with both hands and sitting up in her seat as she beamed at the incoming Jack.

After introductions and a trip to the bar, Jack squeezed himself in between Angie and Carly, who tried valiantly to monopolise his attention. But when it was established that Jack had a girlfriend back in Manchester, Carly rapidly lost interest and turned away, leaving Angie and Jack free to catch up on old times.

‘I’m not surprised you got a contract at such a prestigious law firm,’ he told her. ‘You were always top of the class. Everyone wanted to sit next to you so they could steal your notes.’