He shrugged and obediently headed off to the bar.

‘Lana, you remember Solomon?’ said Catrin shyly, and Sol stepped forward.

‘Hi!’

‘Let’s have a look at you then,’ said Lana, beaming. ‘Yep, he’ll do!’ And she gave him a big hug and planted a smacker on his lips.

‘Aw, don’t embarrass him,’ laughed Catrin.

‘That was a brilliant show,’ said Sol. ‘I don’t know how you do it! All those words – the songs!’

‘Not exactly saving lives though, is it? Like you two medical whizz kids.’ Lana turned to take the vodka from Gareth. ‘Thanks, babe,’ she said and kissed him on the cheek.

‘I couldn’t get over the dancing! All those moves!’ Judith was clearly impressed.

‘But you saw me in the school shows!’ Lana laughed.

‘Yeah, I know, but this was like so professional! You are gonna be such a star.’

‘Stop it!’ Lana said, laughing, quickly checking that no one from the cast was in earshot. Bit uncool to talk like that, she thought, though she knew Judith meant well.

‘Talking of stars,’ said Gareth, ‘shall we give her the present?’

‘Ooh yes,’ said Judith, reaching behind her chair for a black bin-liner she’d brought with her, containing something spiky and flat wrapped in tissue paper.

Lana looked intrigued, put down her drink and began unwrapping.

‘I should point out,’ said Catrin, ‘that me and Sol contributed absolutely nothing to this. We are such bad friends.’

‘Though to be fair,’ added Sol, ‘we did get you a large bag of pick ’n’ mix.’ And they all laughed.

‘What’s this?’ said Lana, pulling back the paper to reveal a large home-made golden star, with a photograph of Lana stuck in the middle surrounded by the words LANA LLOYD SUPERSTAR EXTRAORDINAIRE! WE ARE SO PROUD!

‘Gareth made it, and I sort of painted it.’

Lana smiled and did her best to sound grateful. ‘Aw, that’s fantastic – thank you!’ she said.

‘You can stick it on your dressing-room door or whatever,’ said Gareth. ‘When you do your next show.’

‘Yeah!’

They were interrupted by some of Lana’s fellow cast on their way to the bar and Lana surreptitiously hid the gift back under the tissue. ‘You coming to Juno’s, aren’t you?’ asked Kiki, the girl playing Sarah Brown.

‘Yeah, maybe, we’ll see,’ said Lana coolly, avoiding any introductions. ‘May just stay here.’

Kiki nodded and moved off with the others.

‘You were really good, Sarah Brown!’ Gareth called clumsily after her. But Kiki didn’t hear and the compliment was left hanging in the air. Lana felt simultaneously sorry for Gareth and embarrassed by him.

‘Don’t think she heard you, mate,’ said Judith, laughing at him.

‘Or maybe she didn’t understand my ridiculously thick Welsh accent,’ he laughed back. ‘So who’s for another drink then?’

‘Good God!’ shouted Judith, clearly in good spirits. ‘Make the most of it, folks. Gareth Metcalf is buying a round!’

It had been Lana’s idea for Judith to move in with Gareth. She’d received a letter from Catrin a few weeks previously, desperately appealing for help. ‘I think it’s really bad for her, living with Patricia,’ Catrin had written. ‘The woman’s poisonous. And without George there any more it must be unbearable.’ So setting them up as flatmates seemed like the obvious solution. Gareth had a spare room, after all – surely Judith would leap at the chance to be free. But her reaction to Lana’s suggestion was far from positive.