Leah was very quiet. When Tamsin looked round at her, she saw that she was crying heavily. She put her hand on Leah’s thin back and understood how selfish her reasoning had been. Doing the right thing in order to keep her own moral slate clean was, in this instance, the wrong thing for Leah. Now it was simply a question of truth and not-truth, and the truth was that Leah was really unhappy in her relationship – just as she, Tamsin, was in hers.

‘Chris loves you,’ she said again, slowly, ‘but you don’t love him, do you?’

Leah shook her head and didn’t stop shaking it for a long time.

‘Then dump him. Dump him! Look, it’s not easy, but honestly…’ Tamsin was possessed by a sudden urgency – a feeling that if she didn’t act now, then she never would. ‘I know. Let’s make a deal. You break up with Chris and I’ll break up with Callum.’

‘What?’ Leah lifted the wine bottle away from her lips. ‘You want to break up with Callum? That’s awful, what happened?’

‘I don’t know.’ Tamsin shook her head. ‘Well, I do know, but it’s too complicated to explain. It’s just over. At least, it nearly is. Which is the same thing, isn’t it?’ There was a sad little pause. Then Tamsin forced her face to brighten. ‘Hold on,’ she said, jumping to her feet. ‘Wait there, I’ll be right back.’

There was an outside bar that was really a garden shed, trimmed with raffia to simulate a tropical beach hut. Tamsin bought four double shots of tequila and wiggled her way back through the tightly packed drinkers to where Leah was clutching the now-empty wine bottle.

‘Our secret New Year’s resolution.’

Leah took her first shot and nodded.

‘To freedom,’ said Tamsin, feeling euphoric, schoolgirlish.

‘Freedom,’ mumbled Leah. She gulped down her shot, coughed twice, and went back to scratching her arm. By now it was pink, and peppered with blood flecks.

Eight

Leah was first to go through with her side of the bargain. As soon as she decided to leave Chris, his presence became so unbearable to her that she couldn’t understand how she’d stayed with him for four whole months. The problem was, she had no idea how to leave someone. For a fortnight or so, she hoped that her obvious aversion to him might prompt Chris to ask her what was wrong. But Chris didn’t seem to mind her froideur. No, scratch that – he didn’t even notice it. Leah began to feel that no matter how badly she behaved, Chris would remain his gallant, good-humoured self. She had an unsettling idea of herself as a storybook ghost, translucent and insubstantial, her hand passing pathetically through any object she tried to hold on to.