Minerva flashed me another critical look. In a second, she had taken in my black jeans, my mustard-yellow jumper, a couple of sizes too big for me, and my fawn-coloured sheepskin boots, made for warmth and comfort rather than style. The tiny flicker of her top lip signalled her disapproval. Anyone else would’ve missed it. I didn’t. My clothes had been bought from the local department store, not an exclusive boutique like hers. If she had a problem with that, she could file it under ‘tough’.

‘How is everyone?’ I asked.

‘Fine.’

I winced inwardly at the inevitability of our usual tepid conversation. Minerva hadn’t come all this way to exchange platitudes, but I’d learned over the years that if my big sister, Minerva, wanted something it was best just to stay silent and let her get to the point.

‘Sephy, I’ve been hearing rumours,’ she began slowly.

What? Had she heard about Troy? If she had, then everyone knew.

‘Oh? What kind of rumours?’ I asked carefully. Warning bells pealed in my head.

‘About Callie and Tobias Durbridge. Is my niece getting involved again with that blanker?’

I winced. I couldn’t help it. The B-word … Even though it was never addressed to me, I hated it. Mind you, in my time I had been called a ‘blanker-lover’. Unpleasant.

‘Minnie,’ I began, deliberately shortening my sister’s name to its detested moniker to prick her skin. ‘My first love and your niece’s dad was a Nought. Don’t say that word in front of me.’

‘You know I didn’t mean anything by it,’ Minerva dismissed.

‘If you don’t mean anything by it, don’t use it. And, if you can use it in front of me, knowing everything I’ve been through, then that doesn’t make you much of a sister, does it?’

‘OK. I’m sorry. Happy now?’

I glared at Minerva. If she didn’t get it after all this time, then she never would.

‘Look, I’m truly sorry,’ Minerva said with a sigh. ‘I’ve had a crap day. Between you and me, Essentials isn’t doing so well. I’ve been told I have three months to turn the magazine’s fortunes around or the publication is no more and I’m out the door.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ And I was. Being the editor of Essentials was the entirety of Minerva’s professional world and three-quarters of her personal life.

‘Sephy, to cut a long story short …’

‘Too late!’

Minerva frowned for a second, then rolled her eyes. ‘As I was saying, I’ve heard rumours that Tobey Durbridge is in trouble, serious trouble, and that Callie is defending him in court, but there’s a super-injunction stopping the story from being reported. Is any of that true?’

But wait! Is that why Minerva had turned up on my doorstep? For an exclusive? For Shaka’s sake. I shook my head.