‘It was delicious, Marc. One of the best meals I’ve ever eaten,’ she lied. ‘What a great idea of yours to come and have this lovely Christmas Eve treat, à deux,’ she added with a sarcasm that passed right over him, knowing he had shared every moment of their evening with Amelia and his other social media followers.

‘That’s not all we’ll be doing à deux.’ He rubbed his thumb along the side of her hand, his eyes glittering from wine and desire. ‘Here, let me give you part of my Christmas present,’ he said, taking a small duck-egg blue box out of his jacket pocket.

Her heart skipped a beat as she recognized the iconic Tiffany colour.

Was Marc going to give her love hearts too, she wondered, disgusted. But the box was small for a chain and pendants, she registered. Was he going to propose?

For one mad moment Marie-Claire thought she could pretend that she’d never overheard the phone conversation with Amelia. Pretend that she could live with Marc’s fling – if she made it very clear that it was to end – and secure her future along the lines that it had been moving.

She had two choices, yay or nay. Depending on her answer, her life would be directed along one of two very different paths.

‘Excuse me, Marc, I need to pee – all the champagne and wine,’ she said. ‘Back in a sec.’

‘Don’t be long, I’ve two surprises for you,’ he said, taking out his phone to photograph the elegant box.

And I’ve a surprise for you, too, she thought grimly, wishing she could see Amelia’s face, when this photo appeared on Instagram.

CHAPTER SIX

Her heart was thumping as she struggled with her unyielding underwear in the small toilet cubicle, listening to two women laughing heartily as they reapplied their make-up in the restroom. She banged her elbow off the side of the stall and the pain of it nearly brought tears to her eyes. What was it her Irish grandmother used to say? If you bang your elbow, bang the other one to even it out. She wanted to bang her elbow in Marc’s solar plexus. If he was going to propose, how dare he think it was acceptable to ask her to marry him when he was shagging someone else? She sighed with relief escaping the confines of her detested Spanx. She was damned if she was pulling them back up, she decided, stepping out of them and rolling them up and shoving them in her handbag.