Minnie skipped all the way home. She wasn’t sure, but it felt as though the pitch had gone well. If Lexon said no, she would try someone else – she was going to make this happen. On her phone, she had a text from her mother: ‘I hope it went well love. I’ve got my course this afternoon, but call me later and let me know xxx.’

Her mother was retraining to be a midwife. She’d surprised them all at dinner the other week by saying it was something she’d always wanted to do. Tara had researched a course for her online, specifically for nurses wanting to retrain, and she’d signed herself up. She made Dad sell another of his clocks to pay for it. Number thirteen was getting quieter and quieter with all the family’s changing career plans.

Back at her flat in Willesden, Minnie let herself in and flopped on the sofa. She took out her phone. She should reply to Jake, one of the chefs from the catering firm she’d been on a date with last week. Jake was attractive, kind and popular with the waitresses. He’d surfed his way around Mexico in a van last year, and was off base-jumping in Yosemite once he pulled some more cash together. He was the kind of happy-go-lucky adventurer it was impossible not to like. There was no reason not to go on another date with him. Minnie’s owls were not overly enthusiastic, but the owls had not proved helpful in the past.

Just as she was typing out a reply to Jake, a text came through on the No Hard Fillings WhatsApp group. It was a link from Fleur. Her producer friend who’d filmed the video of Leila’s engagement had finally sent through an edit, and she’d uploaded it to her YouTube channel. Minnie watched the video and laughed out loud; it perfectly captured the joyful madness of the occasion. Minnie watched the close-up of Leila’s delighted face and kissed the screen.

‘We’ve gone viral!’ read Fleur’s message beneath the link. ‘We’ve 60,000 views and counting!’

As she was watching the video a second time, her phone began to ring.

‘Hello, Minnie? It’s Lucy Donohue.’

‘Oh, hi Lucy.’

Lucy coughed on the line. Oh god, what if Minnie had given her food poisoning? Did that sound like a food poisoning cough? What if Lucy had just spent the last hour on the toilet, Rupert vomiting next to her or holding her hair back? What if she was calling to say she planned to sue?