‘You live in Coventry, then?’

‘I did until recently. With my boyfriend.’ She managed a comical face. ‘Ex-boyfriend.’

Again, the generous laugh. ‘Oh dear. You’d better have some more wine!’

Olivia, seeing Jake’s hand poised over Anna’s glass, called across, ‘You’d be welcome to stay the night. Why not? I even have toothbrushes!’

Automatically, Anna said, ‘Thank you, but I think I’d better get back. I’ll get a cab.’ She was so used to being tied to home, to Richard, who admired spontaneity but only on his terms. But now there was only Kate’s empty house and she realized too late that she needn’t have refused.

Olivia accepted the refusal graciously. ‘Do whatever suits you best, my dear. Actually I teach early tomorrow, so unfortunately I shouldn’t have much time to see you.’ She leaned forward. ‘And I so want us to have a talk.’ The smile she produced actually made Anna’s heart beat faster.

Jake had refilled her glass. Turning to thank him, she caught him watching her and saw an expression in his eyes that she couldn’t quite read – puzzled, or worried – but before she could think about it further there was a loud outburst from Krish. She watched him, his laugh high and giggling, cheeks pink. He had drunk too much, she could see. She wondered what it was he and Jake could possibly have in common.

‘Does Krish work for you or something?’ she asked Jake. ‘Is that how you know each other?’

He nodded. ‘He has done. I’ve got my own business in School Road. He’s worked there during a couple of holidays.’ He grinned at Olivia. ‘She came in to buy a dresser and by the time she’d left she’d talked me into giving her son a job. Persuaded me he’d be the best thing that ever happened to me . . .’

‘Which of course I was,’ Krish interrupted, his voice loud and slurred.

‘No more wine for you,’ Olivia said sternly. She beamed at Jake. ‘And wasn’t I right?’

‘He’s pretty good at making tea,’ Jake teased.

Olivia let out a loud laugh, wine loud, Anna thought, just beyond what was called for.

‘He learned a lot actually,’ Jake added hastily.

‘So what d’you sell?’

‘Furniture, mainly. Stripped-pine stuff – do a lot of it myself. It’s getting very popular. I have a few other bits and bobs in to decorate the shop, but I go for the big stuff really – cupboards and dressers, that sort of thing.’

‘I like shops like that.’

Jake shrugged. ‘Come and see it then. It’s not far.’

She found herself talking with Jake for most of the rest of the evening, through the kulfi – ice cream sprinkled with shavings of pistachio nuts – the slices of mango and cups of strong black coffee.

‘You all need sobering up,’ Olivia said. Sean volunteered for the coffee making. Anna saw Jake’s eyes follow him as he disappeared unsteadily into the kitchen.

They all moved to the other end of the room, lounging in easy chairs, congratulating Olivia on the food, and she sat on the sofa covered in its bright fabrics, between Theo and Krish, arranging the end of the sari over her shoulder with an air of cream-fed satisfaction.