Zadie wouldn’t have been like that – though, Chloe realized, she might actually have children by now. Zadie was the type to either do it early, or late. Either she would have accidentally had twins with mad names in her early twenties, or perhaps she would have waited until she was forty and done with wildness, popping out a placid little thing without any of the fuss of IVF. Either way, she wouldn’t have been the type to transform in motherhood, Chloe was sure of that. She tried to quash the thought. She had resolved not to indulge in these little fantasies about her friend, about the life she might or might not have had. But something about the question Corinne had asked at the wedding had derailed her self-control. In the month since, Chloe had found herself wondering again and again. It was as if the question were a shovel, dislodging the tightly packed earth that Chloe usually kept on top of that corner of her mind.

A couple of hours later the sun had set and the plates of food had been practically licked clean. Claudia had, miraculously, stayed asleep for the entire evening so far and, in spite of herself, or rather in spite of Lissy, Chloe was having a nice time. She topped up each glass of wine, revelling in the cooler air, grateful that she might be able to sleep under the covers later.

‘Supper was amazing, Chlo,’ said Guy. ‘We’ve been living off ready meals for the last week.’

‘No, we haven’t,’ said Lissy sharply. ‘They’re not ready meals. They’re frozen meals I prepped before Claudia was born.’

He nodded. Clearly, he knew that arguing with Lissy while she was so hormonal you could almost see the oestrogen coming off her skin was a pointless undertaking.

‘You should come to us next time,’ said Lissy.

‘Of course,’ Chloe said. ‘I could cook at yours, if you wanted. We would have come to you tonight …’

‘No, no,’ Guy said. ‘We wanted to come here. It’s a treat to be out of the house.’

Lissy opened her mouth, probably to say that she had left the house every single day, actually. But Guy kept talking. ‘How’s next Saturday?’

Rav shook his head. ‘We’re busy. Week after?’ Everyone got their phones out and started the complex negotiation of attempting to make plans.