‘In that case, maybe this Billy soul has come back as a woman – have you considered that? He may be in a female body, in which case you’re going to have to become a lesbian like me.’

‘Tempting,’ I said as I watched Jon chatting with his new friend outside. ‘I think generally women tend to be more straightforward.’

*

Jon Howard. He was one of the secret liaisons Marcia and Pete didn’t know about; no one knew about, in fact, not even Heather. Ours was an encounter I preferred to draw a veil over and certainly one I would never repeat. He was good company until you got to know him and learnt he was a first-league womanizer. The phrase ‘notches on the bedpost’ came to mind when I thought of him and I was embarrassed by the fact that I’d been one of them.

He’d turned up on my doorstep about three years ago.

‘Just moved in next door,’ he said, brandishing a bottle of champagne. Cristal, I noticed as he handed it over. I was impressed. A man of taste. ‘Thought I’d come over and introduce myself and ask a favour,’ he continued as he shifted on his feet and, for a moment, looked vulnerable. Why not? I thought. An attractive older man at my door. It didn’t happen often.

‘I’m desperate for a good meal,’ he said when he left a few hours later. ‘I’ve no cooker until my kitchen’s done.’

I laughed. ‘Is that a hint?’

He grinned back at me. ‘I could help. I’m a good cook.’

‘No, no, come. I’d be glad to.’

And so he’d come back the next night, and the next. He asked for advice on local tradesmen, admired the house, admired me, my choice of furnishings, asked me to keep a spare set of house keys for him in case he lost his. I felt useful, respected and desired. I listened to the story about the end of his marriage, noting he was a single man about to embark on the divorce process, just a few years older than me, a rarity. He was making a new start, worked as an architect specialising in institutions like hospitals, schools or prisons, moved from St Albans. He was lonely. Didn’t know anyone in town. Said he felt a connection with me straight away. How was it possible I was on my own? And we had got on at first. The sex wasn’t bad either, though it only happened once. I thought it was all too good to be true. It was. After he’d made his conquest, suddenly he wasn’t as available, didn’t appear to be so lonely after all. He even took the moral high ground when I called him out on the number of women who seemed to be passing through.