A little reminder to this upstart that she’d been an uninvited guest at the party – both figuratively and literally – would do no harm, Millie thought grimly. Now that the preliminary skirmishes were out of the way, and the real fighting had begun, Millie felt a welcome coldness and alert calm settle over her. It wasn’t a new sensation to her – she’d felt it before, during other significant and stressful moments in her life. And it was always welcome. Though she liked to think that she lived her life paying homage to her heart, she would always rely on her head when it came to survival.

‘Oh, he didn’t invite me,’ Phyllis was forced to admit, but gave a small throwaway laugh to show she felt no shame about it. ‘In fact, he was most put out to see me there,’ she confided silkily, her voice almost purring now that she was gleefully anticipating the bombshell that she was about to explode. ‘And by the way,’ she added, watching Millicent like a cat at a mouse hole, ‘who said he was my ex-husband?’

For a moment, Millie didn’t seem to understand what Phyllis had just said. And then her eyes widened in stupefied understanding – the enormity of it hit her like a hurricane.

‘Yes,’ Phyllis said, almost gently, watching the devastation she’d caused. ‘All that time that he was romancing you, sweet talking you, promising you the world, telling you that you were the love of his life and all the rest of it – he was a married man. And a father to our lovely Vicky.’ Phyllis reached out and stabbed her cigarette out viciously in a large green agate ashtray.

‘He walked out on us when Vicky was barely three,’ she informed Millie in flat, harsh tones that did nothing to hide her bitterness. ‘Just vanished – poof – left us in the lurch one fine day, with no financial support, nothing.’ Phyllis shook her head. ‘I had no idea where he was, or how long he’d be gone, or if he’d ever come back. He didn’t by the way,’ she added with a grating laugh. ‘The bastard had no intention of saddling himself with a wife and child for the rest of his life. If it hadn’t been for my parents, Vicky and I, we’d probably have … well … That’s neither here nor there, as far as you’re concerned, is it?’ she added flatly, mimicking Millicent Vander’s frozen pose by leaning back in her chair and crossing one leg elegantly over the other.

It was a nasty replication, designed to hurt and undermine the older woman in her own home, but it went largely unnoticed. Mainly because Millie was, at that moment, incapable of speech – let alone capable of appreciating the insult.