So I bet you are all thinking Steve's long gone?

Well, not really. We are sort of, well, I suppose, friends. He's a better friend than he ever was a boyfriend.

He sorted out the car battery. When someone keyed the passenger door, he used some man-stuff to erase the marks. He took away all the cuttings from my hedgetrimming adventures, when I didn't know what to do with the pile of wood and leaves covering my lawn. He takes me for drinks at the weekends. He bought my mum a fridge magnet. Nothing is ever my fault any more, and he is almost always sober when I see him.

Yesterday I had terrible period pains by the time I left work. Small Child went to bed early, luckily, and I was lying on the sofa feeling really sorry for myself. Steve had phoned earlier, and he turned up with a bag of stuff from Lush to cheer me up. He made me tea and more painkillers then distracted me from the pain by chatting until it the painkillers kicked in. He told me not to worry about being stupidly overemotional and to just cry, then brought in the tissue because my mascara always hurts my eyes when it runs.

But can we stay friends when I still fancy the pants off him and the last thing he says when we part is, 'I'll always want you back'?