‘Had a good day?’ he asked in between mouthfuls.

‘I have, actually. It got better as the hangover wore off, of course.’

He gave a quick shrug of his eyebrows. ‘Yeah, perhaps we shouldn’t have opened that second bottle of champagne after all.’ His grin contrasted with his words.

‘I would like the record to state that that was your idea.’

‘Fair enough.’

‘Can I ask you something?’

‘This sounds ominous.’

‘No, not really. I’m just sort of wondering… how exactly I got to bed last night. It’s just that I don’t remember going up the stairs and I never sleep in my clothes.’

‘That would be me. You nodded off down here and I couldn’t wake you. Admittedly I didn’t try that hard, you looked so peaceful, so I took you up.’

‘Oh! You didn’t need to do that. You could have just left me here.’

‘I could. That’s true. I just figured you’d get a better sleep in your own bed.’

He was right. I’d nodded off down here before and woken up part way through the night, chilly, with a crick in my neck.

‘I hope that was OK. I didn’t want to take any liberties and it took me about twenty minutes to decide what to do in the first place. I thought this was for the best, but it was literally a drop and run scenario.’

‘You don’t have to make me sound quite so much like a bag of old potatoes,’ I replied, laughing.

‘You’re quite chatty when you’re asleep, did you know that?’

‘Oh God, am I still doing that? Mike used to say I spoke more at night than I did in the day.’

‘I think he might have been right.’

‘What did I say? Nothing too embarrassing, I hope.’

‘Most of it I couldn’t understand.’ He paused for a moment, wavering.

‘Oh no, what is it?’

‘Nothing bad.’ He touched my arm reassuringly. ‘You mentioned his name.’

‘Who?’

‘Mike.’

I felt something fall in the pit of my stomach. ‘Did I?’ I asked softly. ‘Did you hear what I said?’

He shook his head. ‘No. You just said his name.’

We sat in silence for a few moments.

‘I shouldn’t have said anything. Now I’ve upset you.’

‘No, really, you haven’t. I’m glad you told me.’

Jack looked at me, a question in his eyes.

‘It’s been such a long time. Mike’s been gone over ten years now and sometimes I worry that the memories are fading. That they’re no longer as sharp in my mind as they once were.’

‘You’ll never forget him. Clearly he’s on your mind a lot, even when you’re asleep.’

‘Yes. Do you believe in soulmates?’

‘I think I do, yes.’

‘Do you think you only get one per lifetime?’

‘No. I don’t. And I think they can come in all forms as well. I think you can have platonic soulmates as well as romantic ones.’

I studied him for a moment.

‘What?’

‘I don’t know. I suppose I didn’t really expect to hear that from you.’