‘Oh no,’ her friend exclaimed, taking a swig of coffee. She was lounging on her sofa, and Marie-Claire wished she was there with her so they could have a drink and a girly natter and that life could be the way it had been, before her discovery of Marc’s betrayal. ‘What happened?’

Marie-Claire gave Lizzie the gist of it, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb any of the guests on her landing.

‘OMG! Is she for real?’ Lizzie exclaimed when she got to the part where Imelda made the revelation about Brigid. ‘That was downright nasty.’

‘Tell me about it,’ Marie-Claire said gloomily. ‘Guess who FaceTimed just before I messaged you?’

‘Don’t say Mister Bouchard!’ Lizzie made a face.

‘Yep! From New York, begging me to come back—’

‘I hope you said no to the two-faced lizard,’ her friend retorted.

‘I won’t deny it – I was tempted.’

‘Marie-Claire,’ said Lizzie sternly. ‘You do know who he took to New York with him?’

Marie-Claire’s heart sank. ‘Amelia?’ she said dully.

‘The very one! She’s been prancing around the office like the cat who got the cream since we came back after the break. Soon as she heard you were gone, she was trying to find out why. She even had the nerve to ask me, knowing that you and I are besties.’ Lizzie scowled.

‘What did she say?’

‘She said ever so sweetly in that breathy little voice of hers, “Lizzie, is everything OK with Marie-Claire? I hear she’s gone back to Ireland without giving notice, leaving Marc completely stuck.” So I stared at her and I said, “Excuse me?” and gave her one of my looks—’

‘Lizzie!’ Marie-Claire laughed. One of Lizzie’s looks was enough to intimidate anybody. ‘What did she say to that?’

‘Oh, she started to stutter, and I said, “Amelia, if you need to talk to me about anything work-related, fine, otherwise I’m very busy. I don’t have time for idle chitchat and office gossip.” She was twittering something about being concerned about you as she backed out the door. I was SO tempted to say, Girl, if you were that concerned, you wouldn’t be sleeping with her partner – and I would have, if you weren’t keeping shtum about it,’ Lizzie said grimly.

‘So he took her to New York with him?’ Marie-Claire said dejectedly.

‘He did. No point in me sugar coating it, honey.’

‘And then he has the nerve to beg me to come back! I don’t get it.’

‘He’s an opportunist. If you married him, you’d never have a minute’s peace of mind. Guys like Marc are genetically incapable of being monogamous. You know something, Marie-Claire, you had a lucky escape.’

‘I know. But it still hurts,’ Marie-Claire admitted as an aching pain tasered her heart. ‘I told him to give me a while—’