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‘Yeah, I am actually,’ I say with a smile.

‘Come on then, tell us all about him,’ Ann insists.

I open my mouth to speak. How do I put this?

‘Well, I can’t really tell you anything,’ I reply. ‘We’re having to keep things under wraps for now.’

‘Oh, Brooke, no,’ Tina says. ‘Not a married man – that’s disgraceful. Tell me he doesn’t have kids too?’

‘Oh, God, no, he’s not married, no kids,’ I quickly reply. ‘Nothing like that. Let’s just say… he’s on TV… so I can’t say yet.’

‘An actor?’ Jaz asks.

I shake my head. ‘Sports,’ I reply.

Tina laughs.

‘You’re telling us that you’re dating a sportsman, from the telly, but you can’t tell us who?’ Tina checks, narrowing her eyes at me.

I nod, hoping the fact that it’s true makes them believe me.

‘Hmm,’ Tina says. ‘Well, we can believe him when we see him, right? Will you be bringing him to my big party?’

She always calls her parties ‘big parties’ and never just parties, no matter what they’re in aid of. She’s having a huge house-warming party to show off her new, big fuck-off house.

‘I’ll ask him,’ I say – although I’m not sure if I can make it yet. I might be busy with literally anything else I can think of.

I wonder if it makes them feel good, to bring me here, show off their lives, remind me of all the things I don’t have. Then again, I wonder if I turn up because it makes me feel good to come here and show them how ‘young’, ‘fun’ and ‘free’ I am.

‘And work is going well?’ Jaz asks.

‘Oh, there’s so much going on,’ I say – not technically lying. I can’t tell these women that I lost my job last week.

‘You don’t get lonely, working so much?’ Tina asks. ‘We do feel sorry for you, we’ve all got so much, and I know, you have your work, and it’s not that we don’t want to invite you to the play dates, it’s just, well, you don’t have kids. We don’t want them putting you on a list.’

I almost choke on my muffin.

‘It’s okay,’ I tell her. ‘I get it, you’ve all got kids, it makes sense that you all hang out.’

‘You’re, like, married to your job,’ Jaz says, smiling like that’s a good thing.

Little does she know, my job and I are going through a bit of a rough patch.

It’s weird, a thought I don’t know how to process, but I’m simultaneously jealous of what they have and know it’s not what I want right now. How does that make sense? I’m happy with Ron, seeing how things go, but I always struggle to see the big stuff on the horizon with anyone to be honest with you.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. It’s a number I don’t recognise, but I’ve applied for a few jobs, so I can’t afford to ignore it.

‘Shit, sorry, ladies – sorry for swearing, Barney…’

‘Barnaby!’ Tina corrects me.

‘Crap, Barnaby, of course it is, sorry,’ I babble as I pull myself to my feet. ‘It’s just that this is work, I have to take it.’

Tina sighs.

‘It’s fine. Go, take your call,’ she says, not doing much to mask her annoyance.

‘Hello?’ I say, stepping outside.