“That was John, Debbie, and myself. If I remember right, it was after that weekend that they became a couple.”

Jackie had had her direction planned from the start, but she knew now that it had been a false trail. She backtracked through their conversation to seek out her next point of attack, her head quivering with the effort. “So, who did you have an affair with?” she eventually blurted out.

Dan flopped a hand dismissively at her. “I’ve had enough of this witch-hunt, Jackie.” He poured the remainder of his coffee into the sink. “I’m not telling you.” He turned to face her. “Anyway, what’s all this business of me making you feel guilty?”

Jackie bit hard on her bottom lip. “I’m leaving you, Dan.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m leaving you.”

“For heaven’s sakes, Jackie. Don’t be so bloody ridiculous. You can’t leave. We’ve got a marriage. We’ve got children. You can’t just turn your back on twenty years of accumulation.” He leaned a hand against the sink. “Jackie, it was only one night.”

Without speaking, Jackie turned and walked over to the door. She opened it and cast a glance over her shoulder at him. “Goodbye, Dan.”

“Jackie, you are being totally irrational.”

But she had closed the door behind her before he had finished the sentence.

Dan leaned his bottom against the kitchen sink and crossed his arms and looked out at the bare little garden at the back of the house. Better to leave her for a bit. It was just another of their rows. Admittedly, she had every reason to feel hurt and angry, but they would be able to sort it out. They had always been able to do so in the past. He heard her moving around upstairs, going from one room to the other, and then her footsteps began to descend the stairs once more. They sounded denser this time, and it occurred to Dan that she could well be carrying something of considerable weight.

He pushed himself away from the sink and walked quickly over to the door and opened it. He had been right. Jackie was standing in the hallway with a suitcase at her side. She glanced at him briefly and then up the stairwell, a worried expression creasing her brow. And then Dan heard a second set of footsteps descend the stairs.

He was a young man, maybe thirty years old, dressed in a pair of dark blue chinos, a black polo-necked sweater, and a blazer, and he was carrying another suitcase that Dan recognized as being Jackie’s. By the time that he had reached the bottom of the stairs, Jackie had already opened the front door and placed her suitcase against it to keep it open. She took hold of the man’s arm and ushered him quickly towards the door.