They ate a takeaway for dinner, which Polina laid out on the dining room table alongside silver cutlery.

‘You must be tired,’ he said once Polina had cleared away their plates, her eyes discreetly watching Gabriela as she stacked the empty containers, barely returning her smile when their eyes met.

‘I am actually,’ she said, realising suddenly how shattered she was. ‘Is it OK if I …?’

It was something they had both readily accepted that in all their time together they had never shared each other’s beds. Now, she felt self-conscious, an intruder almost, as she pulled back the sheets and curled beneath the duvet.

Ivan’s house oozed the established wealth of the cultured classes, his bedroom sparsely decorated with key pieces of art on the walls, and a couple of well-placed books. He leaned down and kissed her on the head, and she found herself wondering about the last time that someone other than him had slept between these sheets.

‘I’ve got a couple of work calls to make and then I’ll be up,’ he said as he moved out of the room, and she smiled back at him, her hand moving to her abdomen as she lay back on the pillow.

It couldn’t have been too much later when she was woken by the sound of barking across the river, which ran along the bottom of the garden. Turning in the bed, she saw that Ivan was still not there. Sitting up, she was suddenly desperate for water. The carpet was soft under her toes as she made her way downstairs, through the dark house. Feeling self-conscious for creeping around, but reluctant to call out for reasons she couldn’t explain, she moved through the hallway, which was practically the size of her whole house, until she reached the kitchen.

Going to the tap, she filled a glass from one of the cupboards and was about to move back towards the hallway when she heard a voice from the conservatory. Gravitating towards it, she spotted Ivan, seated with his back to her in an Eames lounge chair.

‘I never said anything about a car,’ she heard him say, followed by a sharp laugh.

There was a short silence as he rearranged his feet on the footstool, and then she saw him sit up, his voice becoming more forceful. ‘Listen, I never promised you anything …’

‘Gabriela?’

The room was suddenly flooded with light and Gabriela winced, turning to find Polina standing in front of her, her finger still hovering over the switch.

‘Hi,’ she said, her cheeks burning as Polina stared back at her, her expression unresponsive to her smile. ‘I was … getting water.’

‘OK,’ she said.

‘Well, I’ve got it now.’ She tried to smile as Ivan moved into the room, his voice uneasy as he looked from one woman to the other.

‘Is everything OK?’