‘I’m still going to see you all, it’s just …’ She paused and shrugged. ‘I have to do it. You can understand that, can’t you?’ she asked and her eyes roamed to Janie, who felt immobile as she stared back at Anna. ‘What do you think?’ Anna asked, reaching out to grab Janie’s hand.

The others had stopped murmuring, and Janie realised she hadn’t commented on the news. ‘I think it’s great,’ she eventually got out. ‘I really do.’

Anna nodded, smiling back at her. ‘I knew you’d understand, Janie. I mean, you were always such a career woman yourself. You must know what I mean when I say I need to be doing something just for me?’

‘Yes,’ Janie smiled. ‘Yes, I do.’

‘Oh, please don’t tell us you’re going to get yourself a job too,’ Lucy said. ‘There’ll be none of us left.’

Janie continued to smile and shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘No plans for me.’ She nodded at the girl bringing her coffee over to the table and pulled a packet of sugar out of a little porcelain dish, averting her eyes from her friends, whose gaze she could feel on her. ‘I need a little,’ she said, tearing it open, already feeling a stab of regret. When was the last time she’d taken sugar? Now she didn’t even know why she was tipping it into her coffee.

They lapsed into silence, before Lucy piped up, ‘In other good news, my mole is actually a wart, so I guess that’s something to be grateful for. Everyone up for yoga tonight?’

They all agreed they were, and although Janie knew she wouldn’t be able to, if Harry wasn’t home in time, she didn’t bother saying as much. Her friends knew the possibility well enough.

By the time she left the coffee shop and started her car, Janie realised she was jealous of Anna. And once the thought had entered her head, she feared she might not be able to get rid of it.

She played with the idea that she would miss her girlfriends and their catch-ups, but their oldest girls would be going to secondary school soon. Things were going to change. And really, what did they all talk about that was remotely important? It was so far from the evenings she used to spend with friends in a wine bar in London at the end of a heavy day, when Janie would regale them with tales of her latest cases, drip-feeding them as much information as she was allowed to.

They were always keen to know the ins and outs of her job, because Janie’s firm had some big-time clients – but it was Janie’s last case there that had particularly piqued their interest.