Drinks made, I approached the table, my stomach in knots, and handed Fiona her tea. I sat down and waited for her to speak as I had no idea what to say as an opener.

‘You’re probably wondering why I’m here.’

I could guess. ‘Presumably Scott… Adam told you about me.’

‘Not exactly.’ She twisted a lock of hair round one of the fingers of her left hand. I noticed the absence of a wedding or engagement ring. They’d split up?

‘I found out about you,’ she said flatly.

‘I’m sorry. That must have been hard.’ Didn’t I know it?

‘It was…’ She paused as though searching for the right word, ‘…well, it was one of those things you hope you’ll never discover.’ She held my gaze. Awk-ward.

‘I have some questions,’ she said. ‘Some of them may seem strange, so please bear with me. Do you mind?’

‘Go ahead.’

She took a deep breath. ‘When did you meet him?’

‘January last year.’

‘So it was going on for…?’

‘About eighteen months.’

‘When you met him, did you know that he was married?’

I shook my head. ‘God, no! I know you don’t know me but believe me when I say I’m not the sort of person who’d do that. If I’d thought for a second that he was married when we met, or even that he had a girlfriend, nothing would have happened. I promise you.’

Holding Fiona’s gaze, I noticed how exhausted she looked. Her grey eyes glistened with unshed tears and she had dark shadows beneath them which she’d attempted, but failed, to cover with concealer.

‘How and when did you find out about me?’ she asked. ‘Did he come clean?’

‘I wish. No. He ghosted me in June. I didn’t understand why he’d dropped out of my life like that. I thought we were h…’ I stopped. She didn’t need to know that we were happy. I didn’t want to rub it in. ‘My flatmate and I did some investigating, found out where he worked, and discovered he’d given me a false name. I emailed him to let him know he’d been sprung. An out of office message came back saying he was on paternity leave and that’s when I found out that he’d been living a double life.’

She winced. ‘Oh my God! That’s really how you found out?’

I nodded. ‘As I said, if I’d had even the slightest inkling before then… I’m not the sort of person who’d do that to another woman.’

Fiona held my gaze as though deciding whether she believed me or not. ‘Did he tell you why he gave you a false name?’

‘It was some sort of game that the two of you played. Scott Hastings is a character out of a film. Strictly Ballroom, I think.’