I wasn’t sure if I was in a dream when Zac knelt by the side of the bed, saying softly that it was nearly nine o’clock and I should rest and not worry about anything, and he’d go down and have dinner on his own. Though I fought hard to look at him, I couldn’t wake up.

When I next dragged my eyes open the clock said 1 a.m., and Zac’s side of the bed was empty. I felt queasy, but the tiredness was more powerful and I fell asleep once more.

Two hours later Zac returned. I felt him lifting the hem of my dress, his hand on my skin, resting on my bump. ‘Holly? My love?’ Somehow, he had got the counterpane out from beneath me and opened it fully to cover us both. He was naked, which was how he always slept. He pressed against me, his breath on the nape of my neck as he asked if I was awake, whispering that he’d tried to rouse me for dinner but the colleague he’d hoped to introduce me to cancelled and I’d been in such a deep sleep he didn’t have the heart to disturb me. I realised I hadn’t dreamt his coming in to talk to me.

‘What colleague cancelled?’

‘Another cardiologist. It was disappointing, but we’ll rearrange.’

‘Why was it disappointing?’

‘There’s some research I wanted to share with him.’

I thought again of the micro card. ‘Oh. What kind of research?’

‘Medical, of course. But you and I have more important things to talk about.’

‘Yes.’ That was a word he usually liked. I was glad he couldn’t see my face, though I wished I could see his.

‘I won’t be able to sleep if we don’t make up,’ he said.

‘I saw you in the bar, Zac. I came down to look for you, to say sorry again. You were with a woman. I didn’t know what to do. I left.’

I braced for him to rage at me for spying on him. To my surprise, he didn’t. Instead, his lips were on my shoulder. When I flinched, he said, ‘Oh, Holly, I’m so sorry,’ then kissed me again. ‘I shouldn’t have lost control. I got too angry.’

I was stunned that he’d apologised, that he had shown some recognition of what happened. I could feel my heart starting to thaw, and I told myself to keep it frozen.

He went on, and I sensed that he was trying to think aloud, and that what he was saying was difficult for him. ‘Did you know, what you experience as anger, as my attacking you, it’s actually distress?’

‘I didn’t know that, no.’

‘Does it help you to understand better?’

‘Maybe. But the woman. Who is she?’