‘Maybe you’re right about Paul? Maybe he’s controlling her and being away from him has turned her a bit bonkers?’ Alice asked.

‘But why would he book a weekend away if he was controlling? None of it adds up.’ Nina frowned, tapping out a message back: ‘“Hey Paul, all good, we’re chilling at the apartment.” That’s okay, isn’t it? Do I need to say anything else? Oh! “We only have one charger between us so maybe that’s why you can’t get in touch with Jules.”’ She pressed send.

‘She’s under a lot of pressure. Who knows how the next month is going to go?’ Alice said, twisting her wedding ring around her finger.

‘Hm,’ Nina agreed, but she was seething. She had so much on her mind she could hardly think straight. They were all here for Jules. And Jules was… she didn’t know where she was, but not here in Paris, that was for sure. Nina’s phone began to ring, and she groaned. Paul.

‘Oh God, I have to answer, don’t I? I’ve only just messaged him back.’ She took a deep breath and smoothed down her hair, as if that might help. ‘Hi, Paul!’ she said, answering enthusiastically. There was something comforting about Paul’s voice, it drew you in, warm and deep, and she felt inexplicably guilty when he asked to speak to Jules and she had to explain she was asleep. It was the middle of a sunny Saturday afternoon in Paris, after all. If Paul thought she was lying, he didn’t show it. ‘No problem, Nina,’ he said, ‘I’ll check in with her later.’

Nina clicked off and Alice, who had been able to hear the conversation, shook her head in bewilderment. She looked through the door to Jules’s sleeping figure. She looked peaceful and calm.

‘Neither of us know what it’s like, do we, to go through something like this?’ Alice said, and Nina, whose heart had been pounding while she spoke to Paul, began taking big calming breaths. Alice was right. There’s no correct way to behave when you’re processing trauma – or preparing for more – in the way Jules was and they were her closest friends. Whatever was going on, they had to be here for her, however difficult or uncomfortable it might be.

*

At 7 p.m. they woke her. She opened her eyes, groggily at first, before they sprang wide open and she reached into her bag for her phone. Nina got there first.

‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ she said, placing a hand over the screen, ‘but I do know a night out with your girlfriends – and not being attached to this – will help.’

Jules nodded meekly but Nina had the sense she was just doing it to acquiesce until Nina had left the room.

‘Are you okay?’ Nina asked. ‘You know you can tell me anything?’ and the secret flashed between them. Nina looked at Jules meaningfully; she would treat any confidence Jules shared with the same respect as Jules had done all those years ago for her. And Jules couldn’t have done anything worse than that, she thought. But there was a misconnection between them, Nina’s imploring energy finding nowhere to go and faltering. Jules wouldn’t meet her gaze, her eyes downcast, as Nina left the room.