It took Charlie a good half an hour of blowing his own trumpet and talking about new ideas and an LA office that he thought I might just be interested in running, while I said nothing much and ate my chicken pie, every morsel, because I was so hungry. And then he said it.

‘I’m sorry, Maggie. I dealt with the whole affair very badly.’

The final pea eluded me, rolling round the plate. ‘What affair?’ I murmured, concentrating on its capture. ‘The awards ceremony, you mean?’

‘The whole thing really.’ Charlie folded his napkin and placed it on the table.

I waited.

‘Sam, your accident, your – your breakdown. I should have realised you needed help,’ he said eventually, and topped up his glass. ‘That it wasn’t really you.’

‘What wasn’t?’

‘All that business with Alex and Sam. The drugs and the drinking. Your fall from grace. I should have been more –’

‘Understanding?’ I suggested.

He laughed. ‘Darling, I don’t do understanding. No, tolerant was the word I was looking for. Sometimes, you know, I get caught up in –’ He paused again.

‘What?’

‘My own ambition. And frustration. I couldn’t believe it of you, Maggie. I was shocked you fell so far.’ He regarded me for a moment; I thought I read regret in his look. ‘I’d expected such great things of you. I just needed you back on your feet.’

‘I thought it was more my knees you wanted me on.’

‘Well, that too, darling.’ He grinned, and with a shudder I remembered that night in his flat. ‘That would have been nice. You’re an extremely attractive girl –’

‘Fuck off, Charlie.’ I choked on my cider. ‘Quit while you’re ahead, why don’t you?’

‘Look,’ he poured himself more claret, ‘suffice to say, contrition is not my thing, Maggie. But,’ he concentrated on the dark liquid in his glass, ‘I do regret the way I dealt with the whole affair. I had Lyons breathing down my neck; I was terrified Crosswell was going to the press. I was trying to redeem myself.’ Finally he looked me in the eye. ‘I should have realised the whole trauma show was one step too far. And I should have warned you about inviting Fay on first.’

‘Yes, you should.’

He shrugged elegantly, the firelight flickering in the gold of his signet ring. ‘I’ll try better next time, Miss Warren. I promise.’

I gazed into the flames. ‘There won’t be a next time for me, Charlie. I’m all done.’

‘Don’t be stupid, Maggie,’ he snapped as I stood up. ‘Sit down.’

I called Digby to heel. ‘I’m not stupid, actually, Charlie,’ I said pleasantly. ‘Thanks for lunch anyway. I guess you can claim it on expenses, so I’ll let you get it. For old time’s sake, shall we say?’

‘Maggie, you –’