Sophie blushes slightly and looks sideways at Gen.

‘Ah. Well,’ she says, pulling a face, ‘I have to confess I sort of organised a blind date for the two of you for next Friday.’

‘You did what?’ I reel backwards, my head banging off the window. ‘Ouch.’

‘That’s what she meant by an intervention,’ Gen says, wryly. She shifts over slightly as the waitress returns with our order.

‘What if I’d said no?’ I ask.

‘But you didn’t, did you?’ Sophie looks very pleased with herself.

‘A blind date, though?’ I grimace.

‘Don’t knock it,’ says Sophie. ‘Worked for Harry and Meghan, didn’t it?’

I roll my eyes. She’s got a point though, I guess.

‘Fine,’ I say, and they high-five and say yes in unison.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Alex

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Alex

5th July

‘Bloody hell,’ my sister says.

Mel’s just flown in from New York. She’s here for four days for a series of meetings. I’ve come out of a two-hour lecture, brain reeling with stuff I need to learn for an exam next week, and she’s waiting for me outside the university entrance.

‘Hello to you too.’

‘I don’t have time for niceties. I’m too busy and important for stuff like that.’ She waggles an expensive-looking briefcase at me. ‘Got a meeting at four. You’re lucky I can fit you in.’

‘Thanks,’ I say, shaking my head and laughing.

I’d mentioned I’d seen Alice, and of course she wants to know all the details, so I tell her the sorry story over lunch at a café nearby.

‘And she turned up completely out of the blue?’ Mel asks. ‘You didn’t have even an inkling she was planning it?’

‘Not a clue. I got back from a day out with friends, and we walked into Albany Road, and there she was.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Mel says again. She’s not exactly helping.

‘I was hoping you might have some sort of wise counsel. I can say “bloody hell” myself.’

‘All right. So, let me get this straight. She turns up, plonks herself down on a garden bench, and tells you she’s made a terrible mistake and wants to start things up again?’

‘Pretty much, yeah.’

‘And? Were you tempted?’

I shake my head. ‘Not even a bit.’

‘God, poor Alice. What a nightmare.’

‘Yeah.’

‘What d’you think brought it on?’

‘Oh God, loads of things. Well, she started off just casually saying she’d been thinking that maybe she hadn’t been fair.’

Mel gives a thoughtful nod. ‘Reasonable point.’

‘She wanted us to go out for dinner. All I could think was that I had a shitload of coursework to do before Monday morning, and Rob had cooked a meal for everyone and I didn’t want to be rude to a mate.’

‘Romance isn’t dead then,’ says Mel, drily.

‘Look I didn’t plan any of this. Anyway she insisted we go out the next day and said she’d pay. Then we had dinner and talked.’

‘How did it go?’