‘I met Elise when she was in Newcastle on a hen do. We hit it off. Fell in love.’ He winces a bit as he says the words. ‘And the long-distance thing was shit, so after six months of to and fro across the country, I applied for a transfer and ended up down here, just before Christmas. But there weren’t any vacancies for a DS, so now I’m a DC.’

‘So you got a demotion, and you got dumped.’ Freya smiles over the top of her wine glass.

Josh laughs quietly. ‘Absolutely. I’m surprised you haven’t heard the story. Everyone round the station knows it.’

‘I’ve been busy.’ Distracted, more like, Freya thinks. ‘So why didn’t you go back?’

‘With my tail between my legs? No way! Besides, I like it here. My sister and her family live in Oxford, and the weather’s nicer, even in winter. Plus, I’d already met some good people by then.’

‘So here you are.’

‘Here I am.’

At that point, Josh’s phone rings and he answers it, shouting over the din of the pub. He hangs up and looks at Freya.

‘Some friends are out. I said they could meet us here. That okay with you?’

‘Course.’

‘Want another?’ Freya nods and Josh heads off to the bar. She watches him go. He’s not the man she thought he was. He was right; she’d heard the rumours, but she’d also heard that the reason the infamous Elise dumped him was because he slept with someone else within a month of arriving here. Yes, she had thought he was a bit of a wanker. But the self-awareness, the friendly charm, disarms her slightly.

The door to the bar opens and three men burst through. Jostling each other, they spot Josh at the bar and greet him with boisterous cheers, then manly handshakes. So yes, laddish, Freya thinks again. Josh points to her and their table, and one of the group heads over with a big smile.

‘Adam,’ he says. He’s big and brutish, wearing an English rugby shirt. ‘And you are?’

‘Freya,’ she replies, shaking his hand. He grabs a spare chair from behind them, picking it up with ease and sitting down next to her.

‘How do you know our Smudge?’

‘Smudge?’ Freya asks, but before Adam can reply, Josh is next to the table again, placing her drink in front of her. His other two friends are right behind him, and they greet her as they loudly find chairs and sit down. There’s not even close to enough room, and Freya finds herself shoulder to shoulder between Josh and Adam. Not an unpleasant situation.

‘I’m sorry,’ Josh whispers to her, as the other men catch up, shouting across the table, expletives and banter flowing freely. ‘I forget what we’re like when we get together.’

‘It’s fine. Smudge,’ she adds deliberately.