Her brain felt sharp again. Focused. She drew herself back in, her phone out of the other women’s sight line, and set up a couple of accumulator bets, placing large sums of money on each. Then she hit the online slots, hitting the same button again and again and again. She didn’t like to bet this way, leaving everything to chance, she was more at home with poker and sports betting – she liked to think they had more cachet, being skills-based – but time wasn’t on her side and, overall, her numbers were edging up and up. Her heart was really pumping now, sweat gathering on her brow. She didn’t notice Notre-Dame or the little kid kicking her seat behind her or the concerned looks passing between Nina and Alice, who were by now quite bewildered.

‘Jules, is something going on?’ Nina asked eventually. ‘Is there a problem at work?’

‘Or… with Paul?’ Alice added tentatively.

Jules ignored them, silently calculating her total amount of winnings over multiple accounts and apps.

£82,000. Over halfway!

£83,000.

She was almost awed by herself; the average person couldn’t gamble like this. It was because she was clever and focused and had the requisite risk appetite.

‘Jules?’ Nina placed a hand over Jules’s phone screen and Jules jumped, snatching it away. Her eyes wide, she glared back down at the screen, checking Nina hadn’t inadvertently made a loss. Jules was gambling with large sums of money now and the slightest error could cost her dearly. She breathed out slowly as the roulette wheel once again fell in her favour. £84,000.

But it wasn’t enough. She only had so many hours left and even she knew that she would have to sleep during some of them. She couldn’t start making mistakes. And she couldn’t tell her friends what was really going on. They’d never understand.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Just work.’

£86,000.

Time for a break. She clicked out of her accounts and apps and slid her phone into her bag. She closed her eyes and felt the spray of water and the sting of sunshine on her face. Was it morning or afternoon? Was she in Paris or someplace else? Behind her eyelids her vision swam with swirls of purple and jolts of white lights as her brain recalibrated.

‘Hey,’ she said, opening her eyes. ‘I thought of something fun – and a bit different – we could do tonight… Who fancies a trip to a casino?’

7

Paris, 2008

Part Two: The Wedding

Nina had been surprised to wake in her apartment without Ted there, but she wasn’t alarmed. It had been decided before they eventually drifted off to sleep, strips of stardust and palms of heat still pressed against her skin. He would tell Alice first thing. Not about Nina, because it wasn’t fair to hit her with being jilted and the betrayal of her best friend all at once. Ted would tell her he had had a change of heart about the wedding, they would send everyone home, and when the dust had settled, Nina and Ted would explain to Alice together what had happened.