‘You don’t understand, Tom,’ she sighed, watching as he turned and pressed on another door. This time, the fridge was revealed. He reached in and pulled out a slab of manchego. ‘He hates me. Like properly reviles me.’

‘And yet, not enough to let you ski off a cliff,’ Tom said, placing the cheese on a board and beginning to cut it into thin slices.

‘Well, no, but—’

‘It sounds to me like perhaps you’re the one who’s taken this “enmity” too much to heart.’

‘You’re a lawyer, you would say that; your heart is made of ashes and straw,’ she tutted. ‘But this isn’t about my feelings – Cory was my friend. I’m trying to defend him.’

‘Against what, though? Yes, something went horribly wrong with Cory; that accident was terrible. But luckily it went right with you.’

‘Why are you defending him?’

‘I’m not, but you seem to have taken the position that this Foley’s a bad guy – yet bad things can happen to good people, you know.’

‘He’s not good.’

‘He saved your life.’ Tom watched her carefully as she struggled for another line of argument. ‘You know, there’s a quote by Roosevelt that I’ve always liked.’

‘Ugh, said the lawyer.’ Clover rolled her eyes, aware she was reverting to her teenage self in her brother’s company.

He grinned at her. ‘Roosevelt said –“We consider too much the good luck of the early bird, and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.”’

Tom let the words settle as Clover stared at him. ‘Who’s the worm in this?’

‘He is.’

‘Kit? You think Kit Foley’s the worm?’

‘He could be. Have you ever stopped to even consider it?’

‘No!’ she scoffed.

He raised his glass to his lips, watching her with a bemused smile. ‘Well, don’t you think perhaps you should?’

Chapter Twenty-Five

‘Clo! You’re back!’ Johnny couldn’t keep the relief from his voice as he twisted on the sofa to look back at her. She smiled from the snug doorway, surprised to find him watching a rugby match with Ari and Kit.