‘Then what did you mean to do?’ Maddy folds her arms.

‘I don’t know. It was so good to be paid some attention. I never meant to hurt anyone at all. You’ve got to believe me. It wasn’t malicious. But once I’d been out for one drink with Trent and we got chatting …’ She sighs. ‘Nothing happened for ages. It was just that he was easy to talk to.’

Maddy has been wondering about how they got it together, building up romantic scenarios in her head that would be impossible to forgive. She’s imagined Trent making some grand gesture, but now she sees that it was as mundane as a drink in the pub that made them spark. Their mutual need for human connection. Not that this makes her feel any less jealous. She used to love talking to her husband too. Because Trent had used to listen to her, she remembers. He’d been her confidante and best friend. How did she lose that? Because she had lost that. Maybe even before Helen came along.

‘Look. The thing is … me and Trent. It was out of both our controls.’

‘Oh, please,’ Maddy snorts.

‘It’s not been easy for me. All of this,’ Helen says.

‘You are not the victim here.’

Helen cocks her head. ‘Alex won’t let me see the kids. He won’t talk to me, or let me back home. I’m staying at my sisters.’

Maddy can see she’s hurting, but even so, she says, ‘I can’t say I blame him.’

Helen nods, taking this punishment and Maddy feels a horribly churning wash of emotions, because she shouldn’t feel sorry for Helen. This is her fault. She’s brought this on herself. But the way she looks at the tarmac and sighs is too hard to watch. ‘But it must be difficult not seeing the kids,’ she concedes. ‘For you and for them.’

There’s a beat and Helen smiles weakly, taking this olive branch. ‘How’s it going? Looking for Jamie?’

Maddy almost tells her. They have far more history as friends than as enemies and normally she would happily talk about whatever was going on in her life. It had always been so easy and natural with her. But not now. She shrugs and lets the silence stretch. Helen has forfeited her right to any information.

‘I want you and Trent to sort things out,’ Helen says. ‘Then we can all move forward. It’s just too hard for him that you’re not talking.’

So they’re still together? Maddy feels the urge to blurt out that Trent is still texting her declaring undying love.

‘Poor Trent,’ Maddy says, hating the way she sounds so bitter and twisted.

She remembers reading something once about a marriage being a fortress and that it only works if you keep your walls and windows secure. But Trent left the back door wide open and now it feels as if Helen is trampling over something sacred.

Logically, she knows Helen is only being practical. She wants commitments, promises, a view of the future. What does she want to do? Move into Maddy’s home? Is that her game plan?