‘That would be one silver lining at least,’ she said, attempting a joke. She was feeling a bit better about things by the time they got to the apartment, until it transpired there was only one phone charger between them. Jules tried to keep a smile on her face but my God. It had been so long since she’d been to Paris, or travelled at all, she hadn’t thought to bring an adaptor. And neither had Alice. So that left the one – one! – that Nina had in the apartment.

‘I used to have more,’ Nina said apologetically, ‘but the Airbnb-ers kept taking them so I stopped replacing them.’ She shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal. All the appliances in the apartment had continental plugs so it was only their phones they needed to charge.

‘I need my phone for work,’ Jules said, in a way she felt precluded the other women from using the charger first. What could she do? She was desperate. She’d been offline for almost an hour. She had catching up to do.

‘I need mine to call home,’ Alice said in a measured tone. ‘In case there’s an emergency.’ And Jules bit the inside of her cheek; she couldn’t argue with that.

Nina stayed silent, humming as she busied herself around the apartment, opening windows and rearranging cushions and objects. There was something off with Nina, Jules thought fleetingly. She was still her usual self – calm, considerate, content – but like she’d been speeded up a bit. Jules closed her eyes. It was her, wasn’t it? Nina was on edge because of her? Trying her best to make sure Jules was okay. Worried about her, perhaps, not just because of the IVF but because of Paul. She’d heard their conversation on the train, she wasn’t asleep: she was buying herself some time to figure out a plan. She felt a curl of shame as she recalled it. Their concerns around Paul. They had no idea. Sometimes she wondered whether she should tell them everything but as soon as she considered it, it was like her brain shut down. No. She couldn’t do it. She hadn’t been raised that way, she didn’t work that way. And this was way beyond a boozy confessional with your girlfriends. This was on another scale. She wasn’t even sure they would believe her. There wasn’t a single person who she thought might understand.

‘Is it okay if I just plug it in for ten minutes?’ Jules asked. Somewhere along the Left Bank her phone had run out of battery and turned off completely. ‘To check nothing urgent has come in? And then it’s all yours.’ She smiled through gritted teeth as she connected her phone and waited for the battery sign to illuminate. It did and her phone came to life, vibrating gently with new messages.

There was a text from Paul, visible on the lock screen:

You can’t just ignore this Jules.

She angled her phone away from her friends as a cold, tight feeling settled over her skin.