*

‘Alice?’ she said, snatching the phone close to her ear.

‘Have you listened to it?’ Alice breathed.

‘Just now. Have you?’

‘Yes, I was with Nate and—’

‘Nate?’ Nina enquired before she could stop herself.

‘Um, Mr Hough to you,’ Alice said. Both women paused, the enormity of the last nine months hanging between them. Nina couldn’t repress an admiring laugh. ‘Good for you,’ she said, and she could hear Alice smiling as she replied, ‘I know, right?’ Tentatively, she stepped a foot back into their friendship.

*

They all met three days later, on neutral territory: the South Bank. It was almost the end of winter. The sky swirled with glacial blues and moody greys, clouds heavy in the sky.

‘I’m so sorry, Alice,’ Nina said as soon as they began walking. She was wearing a long camel coat over a pale blue sweatshirt, with a black cross-body bag.

Alice pulled her faux-fur coat around her tightly, burying her neck in its collar. A flippy gold skirt, tights and chunky boots peeked out below. ‘He was cheating on me. When we were in Paris. Did you know?’

‘No. I promise I didn’t know then.’ Nina looked nervous.

‘Then?’ Alice asked quickly. That’s what had been bothering her the most; that her friends had known Ted was having an affair and hadn’t told her.

Nina sighed. ‘I found out later,’ she admitted. ‘Accidentally. I walked in on them in his office in London.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me then?’

‘I planned to,’ Nina said. ‘About everything. But I hadn’t heard from you both – it had been three months since Paris then – and I suppose I used that, not hearing from you, as a justification for not getting in touch myself. It was cowardly and I’m sorry.’

‘I really need to get some new friends,’ Alice replied quietly, a half-joke that fell flat as she whimpered on the inside. She’d promised herself she’d never cry over Ted Astor again and actually, she realised, right now she wasn’t tempted to. Perhaps it would have been different if they’d had this conversation while they were still married, while she was still pretending, but as it was it merely confirmed that she had been right all along to leave him – or rather, not kick up a fuss when he left her – even though her family, as it was then, had fractured. Because they felt like a family now. Her, Nate and the children, and even Ted, in a strange way.

‘Please don’t,’ Jules said. She was wearing a long red puffer coat and sporting a large Gucci tote: it bore the classic Gucci fabric with a cherry print over it. Alice remembered her buying it in Le Bon Marché after she’d received her first bonus. It was nice to see Jules in her old clothes, like colour returning after a long winter.

‘It’s your turn to fuck up,’ Nina added.