‘So now what? You can upgrade your shoebox to a boot box. When you’ve got the bastard out, that is,’ suggested one.

‘What you should do is get some really fancy equipment, something that will earn you proper money.’

Elizabeth was career-minded and made Thea feel tired at the best of times. ‘What I really want to do,’ she said, preparing to duck from what was about to be thrown at her, ‘is to buy a large house in Cheltenham and fill it with students.’

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

They were all too shocked to throw things.

‘Why Cheltenham?’ asked Elizabeth, in case there was something Thea knew about it that she didn’t.

‘Because I don’t know anyone in Cheltenham. I can have a completely new start in life. Do something entirely different. Earn my living without having to hustle for work and lug half a ton of equipment around the place to do it. I’ve done a lot of thinking during the last few days and I’ve made up my mind.’

‘But it’s so stimulating! Not knowing where you’re going to be working each day,’ said Magenta. ‘And the equipment’s getting lighter all the time.’

‘But not fast enough for my back, alas.’

‘And you could always do studio work.’

‘I could,’ Thea agreed, ‘and perhaps I might set up a studio, after a while, but just for now I want to hide away and lick my wounds.’

‘You must have been hurt badly if you want to retire to the provinces.’ Zelda said with a shudder. ‘Have you ever been there?’

Thea nodded. ‘I did some work at the Literature Festival once. There’s a lovely parade of shops, with caryatids. I really fancy it. And yes, I was badly hurt. I don’t think Conrad ever loved me.’

‘What did you say? Did you have a huge row?’

‘No, not really. I just couldn’t make him understand what he’d done wrong. There was no point in rowing. I don’t think you do quarrel with people you don’t care about. He never cared about me and I suddenly stopped caring about him. Put me right off men, though.’

‘Don’t they have men in Cheltenham?’ asked Elizabeth.

‘No, I don’t think so. It’s partly why I chose it.’

Everyone laughed, but they didn’t manage to change her mind throughout the course of the evening and they did agree that she was way too naïve for photojournalism.

‘Well,’ said Magenta, ‘you can always come and stay if you want to come back and rejoin the world.’

‘And you can come and stay with me, if you want to get away from it.’

‘Thank you, darling. It sounds heaven,’ Magenta replied, completely unconvinced.