‘You’d better come in.’ She opens the apartment door.

Trent looks at her and the piles of boxes behind her, but he doesn’t step over the threshold.

‘I was coming here to …’ he begins. ‘And you’ve been shagging the next-door neighbour?’ There’s colour in his cheeks as he points in Matteo’s direction. ‘Him? He’s a child.’

‘He’s forty,’ she says, defensively. ‘Anyway, you have no right to judge me.’

Maddy resents being told off like this when he’s been the one having an affair. She’s also painfully aware that Matteo must be able to hear every word. Trent always did have a voice that carried, and the walls are paper-thin. She’s got used to him being in a detached house, which can accommodate his large personality, but everything about his presence feels wrong in here in the shabby apartment block – like a shark that has just cruised onto a reef.

‘Why are you here?’

His eyes blaze and he runs his tongue around his teeth, as if he’s weighing up whether to tell her or not.

‘I …’ he begins. ‘Fuck!’

‘What? Just tell me.’

He looks cornered and she knows him well enough to know that his plan has crashed.

‘I was going to tell you that I’ve heard that the money is coming through from the sale. We could split it, but after I’ve paid back the loan, it might be better to use the rest of it to rent. Together. We could make it work, I’m sure. And I’ve found a house. It’s right near a pool so you can carry on swimming.’

Christ, he has a thick skin, Maddy thinks. Has he forgotten that it’s over between them? Or has it just dawned on him that he needs her half of the money in order to be able to afford to live somewhere near his mistress? And what about Helen? Does she know he’s here on this ridiculous mission? Because is he seriously expecting her to live with him, after what he’s done? Does he think that a bunch of roses will turn them into friends? That a smelly swimming pool will be a big enough draw? It’s not until he’s suggested this, that she realises that she’s going to stay by the sea. No matter what.

Right now she has no money, but she’s going to get whatever is left and make a new life for herself. Somehow. She’ll make it work. On her own terms.

‘Trent. I’m really not sure what you expect me to say.’

‘Do you love him?’ he asks. ‘Just tell me the truth?’

His foot taps nervously like Jamie’s used to do when he was cornered. It’s typical of Trent to turn this into some male macho thing. Matteo has nothing to do with this.

‘No,’ she says, but she’s blushing.

He yanks open the door and stalks out. He hears him slap Matteo’s door.

‘She doesn’t love you, mate,’ he calls out. ‘But that’s because she’s a heartless bitch.’