‘It’s not that,’ said Petal, making it clear that it was.

‘Well, have a cup of tea, both of you. And then, now I know that the gallery hasn’t been burnt down, or been flooded, or anything, I would like to unpack and sort out my washing and stuff.’

They took the hint, drank their tea and left.

Thea spent the rest of the day at home. Somehow she couldn’t face the gallery just yet. Although all her cheery statements about its future were true and she did believe them, she was more bruised by Rory’s defection than she wanted Molly and Petal to know – probably because of Ben’s part in it all. If only she could believe him when he said he hadn’t gone looking for Rory for Veronica’s sake. If only she hadn’t fallen in love with him, or even if only she could fall out of love with him now she knew he was the root of all her troubles. It was a shame the heart didn’t work like that.

She went to bed early and fell asleep immediately, aided by hot milk with whisky in it. She was in the middle of her deepest sleep when the phone finally penetrated her dreams enough to wake her.

It was Rory. He sounded drunk. ‘Is that you, Thea? It’s me, Rory. I’m ringing from a pub.’

‘I guessed. What do you want?’

‘I was just ringing to tell you that I’ve decided to show with you after all.’

‘What?’ Thea sat up in bed to make sure she wasn’t still asleep.

‘I said I’m going to show with you after all. It means you can keep the pictures. I’ll be down in a few days to tell you where to hang them.’

‘What? Why? What changed your mind?’

‘I decided not to let my life be ruled by that bitch. I’ll show where I want to show and let Veronica go hang. Let her try and ruin my career all over again!’

‘Calm down, I’m sure she won’t do that.’

‘Yes, she will. She told me. But I don’t care. And now I’m ringing off. Goodbye.’

Thea stayed sitting up in bed, wondering if she could allow herself to be pleased, or if Rory would have forgotten about his drunken telephone call in the morning.

Fortunately, because it had taken a while to wake up, most of the call was recorded on the answering machine. For a moment the thought drifted through her head that, should she have to sue him, she could actually produce the tape in court.