‘All bumps are different,’ the woman told Rick firmly when he’d queried her size. He always took time off work to accompany Willow to her antenatal appointments. He asked far more questions than she did. Her mind just went blank when she was being examined or was talking to the midwife.

‘She’s fine,’ Willow said in answer to Rick’s question and just as the kettle clicked off.

‘What are you drinking?’ he asked. ‘Not coffee?’

‘Weak decaffeinated tea,’ she lied, reaching for the jar of Gold Blend. It was only her second cup of the day – and second lie of the day – what harm could that do?

‘What time will you be finishing this evening?’ he asked.

‘Six o’clock.’

‘I’ll swing by and pick you up in that case.’

‘There’s no need.’

‘I know there isn’t, but I like to look after you and this is my way of doing just that. I’ll see you at six, and don’t keep me waiting like you did last time, I don’t want to risk getting a parking ticket.’

He ended the call and, her coffee made, Willow took it through to the small communal lounge. A couple of other co-workers were there, each on their mobile phone, deep in conversation with whoever was at the other end of the line. She opted for the table in the corner by the window which looked down onto a jumble of wheelie bins. The glamour of it all, she thought with a smile.

So why stay? She heard Rick’s voice inside her head.

Because, when everything else felt wrong and out of her control, this at least felt normal. Here at AoK she could almost forget she was pregnant, and more importantly, forget that Rick had lied to her about poor Cedric. Everybody told little white lies, she did it all the time, she was even guilty of telling some enormous lies, but those were only to herself. What Rick had done was different. The untruth he’d told was just too awful.

She had sort of forgiven him, well, as best as she could, but Lucy and Simon refused point-blank to forgive Willow. She’d tried explaining to them what had happened, and why Rick had lied to her, but they refused to believe it. They were convinced that she had been in on it and had deliberately lied to them.

‘If they can’t accept your apology, or believe you, then they can’t be genuine friends,’ Rick had said to her. ‘You’re better off without them.’

But Willow didn’t feel better off without Lucy and Simon’s friendship. She felt terrible about the whole thing, especially after they’d gone through the heartache of a miscarriage and then discovered Cedric’s decomposing body the way they had.

Shuddering at the gruesome thought, and the memory of the photo Lucy had sent her, Willow played with the diamond ring on her left hand, turning it round and round. It still felt strange to her, wearing something so obviously expensive. She was terrified of losing it, goodness knows how much it was worth. It was certainly worth so much more than she deserved.