‘We must go on lots of double dates,’ she’d exclaimed. She has been trying to sort a night out with Charlie, Edward and me for the past fortnight. ‘It’ll be Christmas before we know it,’ she had moaned in email exchanges, when Charlie couldn’t do this date because of work, or Edward was away. I’d also thrown in the odd lie to say I was busy too, as no one wants to be available all the time. Besides, I have been working late these past few weeks, organising all the last-minute details of the Sweden skiing course for next January. During our last dog walk, Edward had asked me to describe Libby, Charlie and now Rich, who had returned from filming abroad again and wanted to come along too. ‘Oh, this will be fun. Where do I start?’ ‘I don’t need their whole life story, Cass, keep it brief.’ ‘OK, I can be brief. Libby first. She’s pretty, a yoga freak, ambitious.’ I paused, stuck already, deciding I needed to make more of an effort to get to know her.
