She can so easily picture the scene: Trent contrite and apologetic. He’ll agree to therapy, he’ll delete Helen’s number and then he’ll run her a bath. He’ll bring her an iced Baileys and she will soak the day away in the Emotional Detox Bath Soak she got for Christmas in the extravagant Space NK gift box. Then she can change into her embroidered silk pyjamas, put on her lavender eye mask and pretend that today never happened.

But no. She can’t. The fantasy pops. She can’t pretend. Not any more.

Trent and Helen. Helen and Trent. The awful truth of it pulses in her mind.

Is it just a fling? A naughty liaison, or are they together? As in planning on being together permanently? The thought feels terrifying. Has Trent been planning to leave her? End their marriage? And what about Helen’s? Alex, her husband, is not the kind of person to set the world on fire, but from the few times Maddy has met him, she can see he’s a good person. He’s reliable and dependable, a good dad with a successful business and an impressive golf handicap. How could Helen and Trent even think about exploding everyone’s lives? The fallout is just too huge. Or do they think Maddy and Alex are just collateral damage? Because what about Helen’s kids? Lois and Max? Is Trent planning on being a father figure to them? It’s unthinkable.

But she’s jumping to conclusions, she tells herself. It must just be a sex thing. A mistake. A silly fling that will be over just as soon as it began.

With a shaky sigh, she picks up her phone, noticing a cascade of Instagram likes and emojis for her Christmas posts. She’s tempted to reply to the messages, but she can’t summon up the necessary cheeriness.

There are direct messages everywhere – on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, some from Trent, but most from Lisa, saying the same thing: CALL ME.

It clearly didn’t take long for the jungle drums to start, then. She steels herself and presses Lisa’s number.

‘Oh, thank God. You’re alive,’ Lisa says. Her best friend does sound genuinely relieved. ‘Hang on.’ In the background, Maddy can hear music and the rumpus of a board game being played at the kitchen table. Tess, Jamie’s contemporary, who graduated last year from uni, is home with her gorgeous boyfriend, plus Lisa’s stepkids. There’s a shout as someone puts down a winning card. She’s always been a bit envious of Lisa’s large brood.

‘Maddy, what the hell? Are you all right?’ Lisa asks, clearly moving out of the kitchen to the privacy of the corridor.

‘I’m fine.’ Maddy’s voice cracks. She’s not fine. Not remotely fine and hearing Lisa’s voice makes tears of self-pity jam in her throat. Her concern feels like the warm hug she needs right now. But then Lisa has been through everything with her since they first met in a graduate training programme when they were twenty-two. They’ve shared the privilege of a lifetime having each other’s backs.