He kissed me so hard I could barely breathe, and I tried to push him away, which he only let me do when he had kept me like that for a few seconds too long.

‘I would never do what she did to you, Zac.’

He knelt beside the chair.

‘Is that why you’re so’ – I was about to say possessive, though the right term was why you’re such a sick porn-making fuck – ‘why you worry so much about me?’

He was gripping the arm of the chair so hard his knuckles were going white. ‘I worry about you because I love you. I loved her too, but differently from you.’

‘Did you used to worry about her working, the way you do with me? It must have exhausted her. Social workers are under so much pressure – she must have been relieved to stop.’ But had she wanted to? Or did fighting him over it become too soul-destroying?

He whispered, ‘I never told you she was a social worker, Holly. Or that she stopped.’

My heart was thumping faster. I knew this because of Maxine. All I could do was use one of Zac’s favourite manoeuvres right back at him. ‘Of course you did. It isn’t a secret. You’ve said we have no secrets.’

He looked confused at this, as if he were questioning himself.

‘You’re home early,’ I said. ‘How did you get away?’

‘Favour for Omar.’ Omar is another cardiologist, and Zac’s closest friend at work.

‘Is Omar okay?’

‘You can’t tell anybody . . .’

‘Of course not. What?’

‘He and his wife are having IVF. She needs to have her egg retrieval tomorrow morning but he’s supposed to be working. I said I’d cover him, so he’s finishing my shift tonight.’

It was plausible, but I realised that it had got to the point where I didn’t believe Zac even when the truth was more likely than a lie. Zac knew this was too delicate a subject for me to check with Omar, and I couldn’t mention something so private to anyone else.

‘I guess his presence is essential.’

‘Talk about performance anxiety.’ He wiped imaginary sweat from his brow. ‘I’m told the fertility clinic has a great collection of porn.’

‘I hope it works for them.’

‘Yes. We’re so lucky.’

‘I know.’ I pulled his face towards mine. ‘I was missing you so much tonight.’

‘Is that why you’re in my study?’

I nodded.

‘You fall asleep everywhere, these days.’ This was not innocent. It was another opportunity for him to press the point that even part-time work was too much for my feeble pregnant self to handle. His hand had left the chair arm. It was moving lower, over my belly. ‘You’re like a furnace.’

‘Your hands are freezing.’

‘Then we’ll need to think of a way to warm them.’