She hurried down Angie and Jack’s garden, opened the back door and let herself into the house. Jack was in the kitchen and he gave a low whistle when he saw her.

‘Looking good, Brennan! Off anywhere nice?’

‘Dinner with your good lady wife,’ Sophie replied.

Jack looked confused. ‘Angie’s not here.’

‘Oh, perhaps I’m supposed to be meeting her there. I’ll call her,’ Sophie said cheerfully, pulling out her phone and calling Angie, who answered after a few rings, sounding flustered.

‘Hey, Ange, I think we might have got our wires crossed, I’m at your house. Are we meeting at the restaurant?’

There was a long silence at the other end of the phone. ‘Angie, are you there?’

‘Oh my gosh, Sophie, I’m sorry,’ Angie said. ‘I completely forgot and I’m out with some clients. They’re extremely important to the firm so I don’t think I can get away.’

Sophie’s heart sank. ‘Oh, okay,’ she said, unable to hide her disappointment.

‘I feel awful, Sophie, I really am sorry, I’ll make it up to you I promise.’

‘No worries.’ Sophie rang off and Jack looked at her sympathetically, having overheard enough to work out what had happened.

‘I take it she’s not coming?’ he asked.

‘No, she forgot,’ Sophie said. She could feel tears pricking her eyes and was embarrassed. She knew it was pathetic to be upset but she had been so looking forward to the night out and now she was all dressed up with nowhere to go. Plus she’d had to pay a hefty deposit to secure the table which she was going to lose now. But most of all she was hurt that Angie could forget her so easily. Clearly their friendship was more important to Sophie than it was to Angie and the realisation of that stung. She felt like an idiot.

‘Tell you what,’ Jack said. ‘Why don’t you send the kids round here, grab that husband of yours and take him out for a slap-up meal instead?’

Sophie’s spirits lifted a bit. She looked at her watch. If they got a wriggle on they could still make it in time for the reservation.

‘Are you sure?’ she asked Jack.

‘Absolutely, go get him.’

With renewed enthusiasm, Sophie dashed back through the garden gate to find Alan. She hurried into the front room, ready to demand that he get up and put his best shirt on right now but stopped in her tracks. Tom and Katie were lying top to tail on one sofa in their pyjamas, their duvets wrapped around them like cocoons, while Alan was stretched out on the other under a woollen blanket. All three of them were snoring quietly.

What the hell? It was only 7.15pm! But Alan had previous for falling asleep in front of the telly and the kids were exhausted after their first week back at school. She gave Alan a little poke, but he didn’t even stir. There was no way he would be able to rally in time to make an 8pm reservation in central London, even with the best will in the world. Feeling another wave of disappointment, she returned to the Taylor house to break the news to Jack.