‘Aww, look at you two,’ Sophie says as she opens the door and catches him with his face buried in my hair. ‘You have to admit,’ she says, almost unbelievably smugly, taking our coats, ‘I’m pretty shit-hot at matchmaking.’

James looks at me and rolls his eyes. He’s used to Sophie, working with her in the office every day. And of course, I’ve known her forever. She likes nothing more than being proved right, and James and I seem to make the perfect couple. Everyone says so, after all.

‘Come through, you guys,’ says Rich, drying his hands on a tea towel and slinging it over his shoulder. ‘I’ve just put the starters in. It won’t be long.’

The sitting room is spotlessly tidy, of course. Sophie’s hung a huge spider plant in one corner and it trails down, skimming the edges of the bookcase where all her books are neatly ordered by colour. The whole house looks like something from an interiors magazine. I make a mental note to snap a photo of the little grouping of cacti and old Observer’s Books spotter’s guides she has sitting on a side table for Instagram. Nanna Beth would love that.

‘Hi, you two,’ Gen says as we enter. Gen has brought along an actor friend called Malcolm. He’s tall, willowy, and despite the late-summer sun, wearing a trilby and a floaty long raincoat. He has a drooping, strangely clown-like face and reminds me of a bloodhound.

Gen has a habit – I think it’s an acting thing – of taking on the mannerisms and personality of the person she’s seeing. So tonight she’s dressed in similarly floppy clothes, with two long scarves hanging around her neck. She’s sitting on the sofa beside Malcolm, draping her legs over his, and fiddling with one of his long, Byronic curls. He doesn’t seem to say much.

‘Did you get that report done, Soph?’ James asks as he takes my coat and hangs it up. It’s all very comfortable, in a strange sort of way. Because James knows Sophie from work, we don’t have the usual ‘introducing a new boyfriend to your mates and hoping he’ll get on with them’ thing. Sophie approves of James completely, and of course Rich – silent and easy-going, currently doing something with the starter in the kitchen – is happy to go along with whatever Sophie thinks.

‘Yeah. I had to stay behind for three hours, but it’s been put to bed.’

‘How’s work, Jess? Are you still enjoying it?’ Gen stretches, raising her arms up in the air and balling her fists.