Hypno Dave’s party trick, which Justin had thought hilarious at the beginning of their relationship and then backed away from very sharply as he got promoted, was to hypnotize people. Hence the name. And he was very good at it: according to Justin, he’d once put two prop forwards ‘under’ and convinced them that they were on Strictly Come Dancing, leading to some ‘potentially career-ending photos, ha ha!’ Rumour (Justin) had it, he had also hypnotized his way into the rooms of several of the more attractive female medics.

‘He is an absolute legend,’ Justin had insisted, misreading Tara’s stunned expression for approval, rather than horror. ‘An absolute banter-meister.’

‘Well, now it makes sense,’ she said aloud, and was surprised how disappointed she felt. She’d thought he was better than that, with his qualifications and nice office furniture. David wasn’t just the kind of smug knob who made other people look stupid for fun, but if his success rate was down to some sort of hypnotherapy, why wasn’t he being honest about it? And what were the pets about – a distraction?

She looked at Sybil, stretched across the back of the chair. ‘Maybe he’s grown out of it,’ she said, and Sybil swished her tail.

Tara pushed the rest of Justin’s post into the envelope, then sealed it with a sigh. Experience had led her to believe that no one really grew out of anything. They just found better excuses for it.

This new knowledge put a different spin on their scheduled ‘chat’ about David’s first month on the Wellness Centre team.

Tara was already on edge. That morning, David’s reputation as a miracle worker had taken another leap when Eric Fitzpatrick, one half of world-class marital argument tag team the Fitzpatricks, had suddenly burst into tears and admitted something to his stunned wife Sheila that had caused her to hug him for the first time in seven years.

‘I can’t say what, obviously, but I feel Eric’s had a breakthrough,’ David had explained later in the kitchen, under pressure from everyone who’d seen the Fitzpatricks leaving arm in arm. Tara stared at him with new suspicion – had he hypnotized perpetually fuming Eric into an apology? – but everyone else had been impressed. Particularly their old counsellor Jacqueline, who had sent them to ballroom dancing classes so many times the local teacher had had to beg her to stop as the stamping was ruining her dance floor.

‘I was totally wrong about David,’ mused Kasia, as he excused himself to go to his next appointment, ‘he really does seem to get people. Like, really get them.’

‘I thought that too!’ Hero widened her eyes. ‘Normally people with that many degrees can’t … feel.’ She extended her upturned palms in illustration of what feeling might feel like.

‘And he smells lovely,’ added Emily, almost to herself.