She thought of Lenny and Reggie going off on the boat for long weekends fishing together. If she was honest, she had always felt that he preferred Reggie’s company to her own. But whatever her suspicions, she could never ask this man about any of it. Saying what young Liam had told her would cause untold trouble for everyone. And that was something she knew she had to avoid at all costs. There were some things that could never be brought out into the open, and this was one of those things. Deep inside she wasn’t sure she even wanted to know the truth.

‘Have I done something that I don’t know about?’

She laughed at his absolute surety of this. She could see him racking his brains for some slight or unguarded word.

She shook her head slowly. ‘Do you still love me, Lenny? Like you did when we were really young and first together?’

He sighed in relief. It was one of her ‘tell me you love me and desire me and need me above all others’ days. He smiled at her. Putting down his knife and fork, he grabbed her hand and kissed it with his greasy lips.

Sharon felt an urge to drag her hand away from him and his touch. Did he touch Reggie with those same lips? She forced the thought from her mind. She looked over his shoulder to the windowsill above the sink; there was a photograph of Lenny and Reggie on the boat in their shorts, arms around each other’s shoulders. They were both smiling into the camera and she felt the bile rising in her throat at what she was picturing, imagining.

‘Seriously, you all right, girl? You don’t half look white. You sickening for something?’

He was genuinely concerned for Sharon now and his eyes searched her face to try and work out what might be wrong with her.

She forced a smile. ‘I’m fine. Just feel a bit off-colour, you know?’

He grinned. ‘You ain’t in the club again, are you?’

She shook her head in denial; the thought of having another child with this man was abhorrent to her at this moment.

‘It’s women’s problems, Lenny. That’s all.’

He nodded in understanding. He assumed she was having a heavy period or something ‘womanly’, as he had always referred to it. It was the one answer to guarantee he wouldn’t pursue the conversation.

‘I think I will have an early night, Len. Take a hot-water bottle up and have a rest.’

He smiled at her, and he was so handsome she felt her heart would break.

‘I’ve got to meet Reggie anyway: we have got a bit of business to attend to.’