I didn’t hear any more than that. I took my cue and got the hell out of there. I grabbed my coat and my scarf, and I grabbed Merry’s too. I even washed up her lunch container as thanks for dealing with Mrs Peterson and her dreadful choice of lipstick and lack of lip filler. I mean seriously, would a little Botox have hurt?

Merry met me at the front door, shoving me out it. “Oh my God, Jordan, you owe me big time.”

“I’m sorry you had to look at her face. I’m buying you dinner and drinks tonight. Double shots if you want. God, her mouth looks like she’s been sucking lemons for twenty years. Do you think if she wore a hat with a tall feather in it, it’d look like a cat’s tail to complete her cat’s-arse look?”

“Jordan O’Neill,” Merry said, “you are a terrible human being.” It didn’t help that she laughed as she tried to push me in front of the bus. I took her arm and dragged her on the bus, which was surprisingly empty.

Mrs Petrovski had a terrible frown on her face. “He not on the bus today. I asked the driver to wait but he no-show.”

I took a seat and Merry sat next to me. “Uh, no. He has to work a little later tonight.”

“He still meeting you for dinner?” She really was quite concerned.

“Yes, he is meeting us there. Mrs Petrovski, this is my friend Merry.”

“Are you meeting Hennessy for the first time tonight?” she asked.

“No, I’ve met him before. Only briefly though.” Merry gave me a what-the-hell? kind of look.

So I explained. “Mrs Petrovski is the leader of the Soup Crew.”

“Oh.” Recognition dawned on Merry’s face. “Riiiight.”

“We help the boys fall in love,” Mrs Petrovski said. She looked to Becky, Charles, Ian, and Sandra, who all nodded earnestly. “It’s better than Home and Away or Neighbours.”

Merry gave me a wide-eyed, you-weren’t-exaggerating stare, but before I could speak, Mrs Petrovski took some slips of paper from her handbag. “Oh, before I forget, I wrote these out for you. We all swap recipes now,” she said, and literally fifteen people at the back of the bus nodded.

I read the first. Mayal’s green chicken curry. The next was Richard’s homemade lentil dal. Then Ian’s pork mince dumplings, and there were several more.

Oh my God. They were all swapping recipes. And they were no longer weird, no longer invasive, no longer over-invested in mine and Hennessy’s relationship. Because this was really cool, and sure it was still crazy and a little bit weird, but these people started out as strangers.

Now they were friends.

I was a little surprised at how emotional it made me. I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Wow. This is awesome. Like really freaking cool, guys.”