It was strange, the feeling she woke with. On the one hand her gut twisted with the horror of knowing how hurt Alice would be, on the other a strange calm had descended on her, like things had finally slid into place since the moment she first laid eyes on Ted at Le Crillon. It wasn’t great – in fact, it was a disaster – but nonetheless, it was how things were meant to be.

She paced the apartment in a T-shirt and knickers, drinking black coffee and smoking on the balcony, her eyes staring blankly over the rooftop of Le Bon Marché. What was happening, she wondered around 10 a.m. She hadn’t heard from Ted or Alice, but he must have told her by now. She picked up and put down her mobile phone repeatedly, exhaling, her heart pounding with relief, or fear, she wasn’t sure, when JULES eventually flashed up on the screen.

‘Where are you?’ Jules asked impatiently. ‘The hairdresser’s waiting for you.’ Nina remembered Jules had been running errands for Alice’s mother, Clemency, for twenty-four hours now. ‘Did you go out last night? You’d better not be hung-over, Neen, for God’s sake—’

‘I didn’t go out,’ Nina cut in. ‘The hairdresser’s there?’

‘Yes. You know this. The hair slots were from 9.30. You were 10.15.’ Since becoming an investment banker, Jules increasingly spoke to Nina, and maybe everybody, like she was a child.

‘I know. I just thought…’

Jules breathed heavily down the line and Nina tried not to let her irritability shine through. She knew how hard it was for her to be away from home, when her father was unwell.

‘I’m not being difficult, I… Is Alice there? Is she okay?’

‘Of course she’s here!’ She lowered her voice. ‘Of course she’s not okay. It’s her wedding day. One of her bridesmaids has gone awol and she’s annoyed with Ted. Apparently he went out last night and got in really late, even though he promised he wouldn’t drink before the wedding. Although he seemed fine to me,’ she added as an afterthought.

‘You’ve seen him?’

‘Ted? Of course. I saw him down at breakfast. Why?’

‘Did he seem okay?’

‘He was eating. Chatting with Dickie and Lulu. Are you sure you didn’t go out last night? You don’t sound yourself.’

‘I think maybe I ate something…’ Nina trailed off, her speech faint, feeling then as though the life was drifting out of her body, twisting out of the windows and on to the streets of Paris. He hadn’t told her yet. When was he planning to?

‘You’ll be fine, get over here. They’re swapping you and Lulu around, so there’s still time. Listen, Nina, I don’t want to be unkind but… today’s about Alice, yes? Don’t make it about you.’

Nina winced. Most of the time she appreciated Jules’s directness but today it stung, whipped over her skin like an icy wind.

‘I would never do that.’ She knew that she already had.

She hung up and called Ted immediately. He didn’t answer. She kept calling, over and over until it went dead. He’d switched off his phone. She felt frantic then, because what did that mean? Had he changed his mind?