She had a weird feeling that something had happened between her dad and Nicole. Last time they’d stayed with her, Zoe had seen them talking to each other on the terrace of Nicole’s house in LA, and she hadn’t been able to hear what they were saying, but they’d been standing really close together talking intently, and her dad’s expression had been weird, and for a wild moment Zoe had been scared that they were having an affair and that this conversation was something she should tell her mother about, but then they’d flown back home, and a few days later her dad had left and moved in with Avery. Which didn’t explain the conversation between her dad and Nicole but did explain another conversation she’d overheard a few weeks earlier.

And that was another thing she hadn’t shared with her mother. She felt bad keeping a secret, but she knew she’d feel worse if she shared it. So she was trying to accept that she was just doomed to feel bad.

One thing she knew for sure: adult relationships were so complicated she wasn’t sure she wanted one.

Chapter 16Milly

I can’t believe he got a table! That restaurant is booked out for months.” Milly riffled through her clothes and pulled out a pair of freshly ironed linen trousers. “These will do.”

“He probably has contacts. He’s a major author. And those will not do. You are not leaving this house wearing those.” Nicole sat cross-legged on Milly’s bed, watching her get ready.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“Oh please!” Nicole sprang from the bed. “Move aside.”

She proceeded to go through every item in Milly’s wardrobe. Everything she held up, Milly rejected.

“I can’t wear that, it won’t fit.” And later. “That’s ancient. I’ve had it since I was eighteen.”

Nicole looked at her in disbelief. “Don’t you ever clear out your wardrobe?”

“No. I hate throwing things away. I always tell myself that one day I might fit into it again.”

Nicole turned her attention back to the Milly’s clothes. “How many things in here do you actually wear?”

“Uh . . . two pairs of linen trousers and the shirts,” Milly said. “There’s a black dress that fits. I suppose I could wear that.” Who would have thought that picking something to wear could be such a trial? She was beginning to wish she hadn’t agreed to go to dinner.

“No, not black,” Nicole said dismissively. “Black is too safe.”

Milly sighed. “Safe sounds perfect. You’re making me nervous. This whole evening is starting to feel like a mistake.”

What had she been thinking? Chatting to Brendan in the comfort of his cabin was one thing, but sitting across from him at a romantic restaurant with candles flickering was something else altogether.