‘No, no, go on, it’s fine, you can say anything,’ Tamsin murmured. The solicitude in her own voice sickened her slightly: she knew that her interest stemmed more from her feelings for Chris than concern for Leah.

‘Those presents, at Christmas,’ said Leah.

Tamsin nodded.

‘They make me feel sick. It’s like, I’ve been trying to live as cleanly as possible lately, get rid of anything unnecessary – and he hasn’t even noticed. I can’t get rid of them because he’d be so hurt, but I’m hurt, too, because it’s like, it’s like he hasn’t even seen me.’ She held her hand out for the wine and took another long pull. ‘Then sometimes – often – often I think it’s me.’ She looked up at Tamsin. ‘Do you think that’s right? What do you think? You and Callum, you just seem to – I mean I hear you argue, but that sort of seems more normal. I’d never have the, I don’t think I could, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I don’t know why. There’s something wrong with me.’ Leah pushed her sleeve back and began to massage the crook of her elbow with her thumb, softly at first, then with increasing vigour until she was scratching hard at her skin. ‘What do you think?’ she asked again, more urgently this time.

Tamsin was alarmed by the note of deference in Leah’s voice: clearly she had real power here. Whatever she said was going to be taken very seriously indeed. It sounded as if it would be easy enough to convince Leah to break up with Chris – which of course would be a terrible thing to do. The only right course of action was to plead Chris’s case.

‘Well…’ she began, sipping thoughtfully at her cigarette, ‘In my experience with guys … just because someone doesn’t get you doesn’t mean they don’t care about you.’ She didn’t quite believe herself, but she pushed on anyway, doggedly saying all the right things. ‘Chris is just being a bloke, but I know he really cares about you. With those presents, he really wanted to get it right.’ This was true: Chris had been touchingly anxious over the presents. That feeling she had had when she called him to tell him about Antonia – the feeling that he might be attracted to her in some way – it was pure fantasy, surely, and Tamsin felt foolish whenever she recalled it. He was obviously in love with Leah. ‘I’m sure of it, Chris loves you,’ she said at last. ‘And that’s the important thing.’