No escape

Debbie Maddox, 53, Warrington, Cheshire

Standing at the bar, I spotted someone familiar waving me over.

‘Goodness, how many years has it been?’ I smiled to Stephen Doherty, then 39.

It was the end of 2003, and Stephen and I first met when I was 18 – a lifetime ago now.

Stephen was well known around town as a charmer, a ladies’ man.

He’d moved to Australia soon after we’d first met, so our friendship had never really taken off.

Catching up now, I learnt Stephen had married, divorced, had two young children and moved back to the