‘It’s just temporary,’ said Jemima.

‘Sure, we’ll see in a year’s time. Anyway, I’m glad you called. I wanted to ask, have you, perchance, got a plus one for Hudson Hicks’s spring party?’

Jemima sank into her pillows with a hollow laugh. Miles was always hustling for something and this time it was to get his hands on the hot ticket in town. Though they were a relatively boutique publisher, one thing Hudson’s did well was throw a party. Authors, agents, publicists and marketing people all wanted to be on the guest list and Miles was no exception.

‘I always take the girls, Miles. To be honest, I’m surprised Eve even invited me this year,’ Jemima murmured.

‘Ah yes, I heard all about your saucy draft,’ Miles laughed.

‘What? How?’ Jemima panicked, almost dropping the phone.

‘Darling, you know what the lit biz is like. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who likes to chatter,’ said Miles.

‘Shaheena,’ said Jemima through clenched teeth.

‘Sounds like you rocked Eve’s world though. If thrillers don’t work out, you’ll have an illustrious career in erotica,’ Miles chortled.

‘It was a political gesture,’ said Jemima correcting him.

She held the phone away from her ear as his tinny laughter seeped through the speaker.

‘You and your politics, sweetness,’ said Miles. ‘There’s always something.’

Jemima’s grip tightened around her phone. At least she had a stand point. She’d met 5-year-olds more politically engaged than Miles. The only parties he ever supported were the ones serving canapés.

‘Shaheena shouldn’t have told you about that,’ said Jemima trying to rein in her annoyance.

‘Shaheena couldn’t keep a secret if it was by court order. Don’t worry. Mum’s the word. But I have to say, Jem-Jem, how come you weren’t this naughty when we were together?’

Jemima looked at her open window wanting to hurl her phone through it. She wanted to tell him to piss right off using a maps app to get there but still she didn’t. He was as annoying as junk flyers but as much as he got under her skin, he also made her feel… alive – another paradox that drove Jemima insane. Yes, he made her feel alive yet when they broke up two years earlier, something inside her had died. That night would always be fresh in her memory. She and Miles had been at the premiere of a film he had tenuous links with having sold the book rights to the production company. Halfway through the movie Jemima had felt a god-awful pain in her abdomen. When the pain became unbearable, she’d set social niceties aside and excuse-me’d her way out of the auditorium. Fifteen minutes later a flustered Miles arrived in the foyer trying to coax Jemima back inside.

The next thing she remembered was coming to inside an ambulance.

‘Miles?’ she’d asked the paramedic, a short, round Asian woman.

‘About two miles. There was a bit of traffic because of that premiere,’ she said.

Jemima’s eyes darted around the ambulance.