[eyeroll emoji] Yep, that’s a sign she’s on the mend. Happens to me all the time. x

I had no idea you were so popular. x

You’d be surprised.

I scroll through eBay as I’m eating. Jess’s birthday’s coming up and I’ve had a brainwave – if I can find her a signed copy of One Day, I think she’d love it. Only reasonably priced signed copies are not that easy to come by. I disappear down an eBay rabbit hole of personalised Game of Thrones T-shirts and diamante dog collars, eating absent-mindedly. There’s no sign of one on there or anywhere else online, so I finish lunch, and take a walk up to the second-hand bookshop. Despite my lack of success online, I have a good feeling they’ll have a copy – they’ve got pretty much everything under the sun stacked up on the shelves there.

‘One Day, you say?’ The bookseller puts down the magazine he’s reading.

‘Yes. It’s for my friend. It’s her favourite.’

I’ve rummaged through the shelves, with no luck.

‘As it happens, you’ve come to the right place.’ He stands up, dusting off his sleeves in a curiously thoughtful manner. He’s wearing tiny, silver-rimmed glasses and looks like he’s stepped out of another century.

He beckons to me to follow him, through a little doorway and into a smaller room, where the air is heavy with that dusty, sweet, old-book smell. He waves to one of the shelves with a flourish.

‘A whole shelf of David Nicholls books, right here. All signed.’

‘Wouldn’t they be better off out on the shelves in the actual shop?’

‘Sell them through a book website,’ he explains, shaking his head.

He wraps it up and I head out of the shop. I sit down when I get back to the house and find myself getting caught up in the story. I can see why she loves it, but God, it’s like a jab in the ribs. All missed opportunities and second chances – appropriate under the circumstances.