‘Where?’ he asked.

‘What do you mean where?’

‘Tesco? Sainsbury’s? Asda?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘Well, yeah.’

‘Morrisons?’

‘I love that place. Let’s go.’

Bemused, she nodded and went to get her bag. They made their way down the stairs and out onto the street together. This is weird, she thought. What’s going on here? Is this just an opportunity for Jack to stock up on milk and bread or is he trying to prove that we can still be friends? For the entire ten-minute walk to the supermarket she waited for him to say something but he didn’t. With each step they took, her nerves multiplied. Finally they got there and she grabbed a basket, marching over to the toiletries aisle to get some tampons and feeling mortified when he followed her.

‘I was drunk, Ange, you’re right,’ he said as she reached self-consciously for some Tampax. He didn’t bat an eyelid. ‘But the reason I got so drunk was because I hated the idea of you and Harry getting together. As soon as you walked in, he asked if you were single, so I knew he was keen, and it made me realise that I was being stupid for hiding how I feel about you. I meant what I said and I mean it now too. I’d rather put myself out there than risk losing you again.’

‘But you have a girlfriend,’ Angie reminded him, still clutching the tampons.

‘Not anymore. I broke up with her this morning.’

Angie stared at him in wonder. ‘Is this really happening, Jack?’

‘Only if you want it too.’

She took in his beautiful, sincere face and right there, surrounded by sanitary towels and pantyliners, she reached up and kissed him for the first time. ‘I do.’

They finally broke away, grinning at each other, after someone shouted at them to get a room. She was flushed with pleasure. ‘Shall we get out of here?’ she asked.

‘Actually, I really need some fish fingers,’ Jack began, before seeing Angie’s face. He gently took her basket from her and put it down on the floor.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘The fish fingers can wait.’

They were married three years later. It was quite an affair – all their old university mates used it as an excuse for a reunion and the party went on until six in the morning. Angie had never smiled so much in her life. She looked around the room at their friends, old and new, her mother’s proud face barely visible from under the huge hat she’d bought especially for the occasion, and Jack’s large, jovial family who had welcomed her with such warmth, and she felt that she would never, ever be this happy again. Dreams really do come true, she thought.

When the party finally ended, they made their way up the stairs, hand in hand, to their hotel room and crawled into bed together. Angie, drunk on champagne and love for Jack, turned to him in the darkness. She was finally ready to share the thing that she’d kept a secret for so many years, even from herself. She stroked his arm lightly and whispered, ‘I’ve loved you from the very minute I met you, Jack, back when we were eighteen years old. I’ve always loved you.’