‘We’ve recently moved in,’ the woman said, ‘and it’s fine,’ – she gestured around – ‘but all this cream,’ she grimaced. ‘I want to inject some colour, some character, into the place.’

‘I would love to help,’ Alice said, which was true. She’d enjoyed her course in Chelsea so much that she’d taken a further course since then and Ashley, her tutor, had started recommending her to clients. Alice knew she wasn’t doing that for the other students and it meant an enormous amount to her. She was finally starting to feel valued.

‘These are gorgeous,’ Samantha said, flicking through Alice’s portfolio.

‘Oh.’ She frowned. She’d reached the photos from the Mantel project and Alice inwardly swore. Ashley had insisted she include them, but Alice should’ve known better. ‘I know this room…’ Samantha said. ‘You worked on the Mantels’?’ she asked, and then, ‘Oh, you’re Alice.’ She looked up at her in bemusement. ‘So if I give you this job, you’re not going to do a runner on me, are you?’

‘I’m sorry?’ said Alice.

‘I’m just kidding. But whenever I see Aki, she’s always bemoaning how you’re too busy now to work for her. So you went back to college instead? No offence, but odd decision – you could’ve made a fortune working on Aki’s last launch. She said no one has the same sense of style as you.’

‘I think you must be confused…’ Alice said. ‘I did work for the Mantels but—’ What could she say? She couldn’t bad-mouth the Mantels, it would reflect badly on her. People didn’t like to talk about money. ‘I didn’t hear from them again after I did the nursery.’ Not even to get paid.

Samantha frowned again, setting down her coffee cup. ‘Really? How strange. Maybe I got confused,’ she said, looking embarrassed. ‘The woman I’m thinking of was good friends with a colleague of my husband, Ralph. Julia Frey-Jackson. Do you know her?’

‘I do,’ Alice said. ‘I am that person.’ She waved her hand in the air to signify she was the elusive Alice, friend of Julia Frey-Jackson. ‘But I never heard from Aki or Elliott after I completed the project and I was…’ The shock of Nina’s email had left Alice disarmed and defensive. ‘… quite disheartened, to be honest with you. No. Actually. Pretty well pissed off.’ Lordy, she’d blown it now, but fuck it. She laughed at herself, appearing, no doubt, quite mad.

Samantha tipped her head to one side contemplatively. ‘I must have made a mistake,’ she said quickly. She gestured at her watch – a neutral pink-diamond-studded affair – ‘Sorry, I must dash!’ she said. ‘I’m booked in with Antonio at Zed in ten minutes. These roots need attention!’ she laughed. She said it with a wink, as though Alice should know who Antonio was, and it reminded her of the way Jules and Nina used to speak, how excluded she felt. Perhaps it was the secret, she thought bitterly, perhaps it was Nina having slept with her husband. Not only had Nina blown her marriage, but she’d also blown her shot at this commission with the timing of her email.