‘I wish you were coming too,’ Leila whispered, swaying slightly on her feet.

‘I’m sure Ian doesn’t,’ said Minnie.

‘This has been the best day ever, all thanks to you,’ Leila gushed. ‘I want you to be this happy, Minnie.’

‘I am happy,’ said Minnie.

‘I know you are,’ Leila paused, as though weighing her words. ‘Do you still think about love twin?’

‘Leila, please,’ Minnie said, shaking her head. ‘It’s been months.’

‘That’s not what I asked.’

‘You’re the one who said I needed to put myself first, channel my inner Leila, refuse to compromise.’

Leila pulled her friend in tight and whispered in her ear. ‘If he’s still in your head, it’s worth taking the risk. You never know just how perfect it might turn out to be.’

And before Minnie could reply, Ian stepped in and swept Leila away.

New Year’s Eve 2020

Minnie sat on her sofa with a large bag of Maltesers, wearing her favourite owl pyjamas. Leila had given them to her for Christmas three years ago. The bottoms were covered in pictures of real owls dressed up as the characters from Friends and the T-shirt top had ‘Owl be there for you’ written across it in the Friends font.

She had been shopping yesterday and stocked up on all her favourite food. Bev had offered to keep her company this evening, but Minnie said no, she was happier holed up in her flat alone. To be clear, this wasn’t a fearful hiding-from-the-world kind of bunking down; this was simply an I’d-rather-be-at-home-watching-Netflix-in-my-owl-pyjamas-because-I’m-exhausted-after-yesterday kind of bunking down. On one of their park walks, when Minnie had told Quinn about her New Year superstition, he’d called her ‘selectively agoraphobic’. This wasn’t that, this was hashtag self-care. Loads of people stayed in on New Year’s Eve, it wasn’t a big deal.

This time last year she’d taken a sleeping pill just to get through her birthday. That wasn’t going to happen this year. Tomorrow she had plans; she was going for lunch with her family.

Was she anxious about it, already catastrophising about all the things that might go wrong at such a lunch? Yes, OK she was, but that didn’t mean she was going to cancel. It didn’t mean she was going to stay in and hide. So much had changed for Minnie this year, but facing the New Year’s jinx was the ultimate test.

One thing at a time, she thought. Get through tonight, then get through tomorrow, then she could stop just trying to get through. She could start living.

She scrolled through the list of films she had flagged as possible downloads to watch tonight; Working Girl, Erin Brockovich, The Iron Lady – OK, so maybe she’d gone too far with a theme here, but she didn’t want to sit here on her own watching Sleepless in Seattle.