Sure, taking a phone call during foreplay isn’t great manners, but it’s not like she was just yabbering on with a mate. The phone call provided Karl with the perfect opportunity to pour two glasses of wine and talk with Sarah, to really connect with her. And it’s not like sex would have been off the table, because we all know that connecting emotionally often leads to physical connections, especially when wine is involved.

But he did not seize this opportunity to find out more about the woman he apparently had been pining over for years. He was just like “right, cool, whatevs, let me stick my dick in you now.” And when they were the only two left in the office at the end of the movie, Karl could have redeemed himself instead of just saying “goodnight”. There were so many other options for how he could have fixed the situation, like: “How is your brother?” “How are you coping with the fact that your parents are gone and you’re now caring for your brother without any family support?” “I’m sorry my boner got in the way of treating you like a human being the other night, would you like to have a Christmas drink with me, even if it’s only as friends?” “I realise that I was quite selfish and sulky when you decided to go to the aid of your severely ill brother rather than make sex to me. I can’t believe how immature I am – can you ever forgive me?” But no, he just gave her a sulky “goodnight” and pissed off.

What is sad here is not that they didn’t end up together, but after all the pining Sarah had been doing over Karl, he just wasn’t the man she’d built him up to be. I mean, she could have just said “yeah nah, look after yerself mate” to her brother and settled for a good looking bloke who never really tried to understand her because she was a single woman in her 30s and it was Christmas time. But she decided to remain single instead. Good fucking on you, Sarah.

PS. Even though not ending up with an uncaring brat sack of a man is perfectly satisfactory conclusion, the story doesn't end with Single Sarah. No. While doing a bit of research into this rant/dicking around on the internet instead of being productive, I came across the Love Actually sequel. It was made in 2017 for Red Nose Day and gave us a glimpse of the character's futures. And it turns out that Sarah didn't end up with Karl. Nah mate, Sarah didn't just emotionally starfish and succumb to a mediocre, convenient union with what she perceived to be her only prospect. She was married to an attentive, well-dressed Patrick Dempsey. Our girl held out and then ended up with Mc-bloody-Dreamy. I didn't set out to write a single gal's parable, but there is an undeniable moral to this story: good things come to those who don't lower themselves to emotionally-stunted dick nuggets.