‘True,’ said Naomi with a smile.

‘There must have been times when you felt like giving Colin a piece of your mind. I know I did. Brian too.’

Taken aback, Naomi said, ‘Really?’

Her friend looked at her. ‘Gloves off time?’

‘Heavens, you mean you’ve been wearing a pair?’

Another olive eaten, Geraldine said, ‘Colin was great. Life and soul. Never a dull moment. Always ready to lend a hand. Always quick to lead from the front. A dynamo of a man who never knowingly undersold himself.’

‘That last bit sounds awfully like a criticism.’

‘It was meant to be.’

Uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going, and thinking that she might actually prefer to be interrogated about Ellis, Naomi said, ‘Are you sure you want to take this any further?’

‘Oh, I think it’s high time I did. You see, if I’m brutally honest I tolerated Colin because he was your husband. If I had known him in any other guise, I would have given him short shrift.’ She raised a hand. ‘No, no, hear me out. I need to say this, and I believe very strongly you need to hear it.’

‘It doesn’t sound like I have any choice.’

‘He was overbearing,’ her friend continued as though Naomi hadn’t spoken, ‘and horribly patronising, especially towards you. I had to bite my tongue every time I heard him put you down. Oh, he didn’t make it obvious that he was putting you down, but it was there in all sorts of little ways. He’d comment on a new dress you’d bought and say something like “Are you sure that colour suits you?” Or he’d—’

‘Isn’t that exactly what you’d say?’ Naomi interrupted.

‘No. I’d come right out and say the colour didn’t suit you and give you the reason why. And do you remember that evening we were with you a few days after your first wedding anniversary, and the soufflé you’d made didn’t rise? I’ve never forgotten how he tutted and cracked a joke about it being such a let-down and that he’d better give you a bicycle pump for the next time you attempted to make one.’

‘It was a joke,’ Naomi said, surprised that Geraldine should remember such a small detail from so long ago.

Her friend shook her head. ‘You didn’t see his face when you left the room, or hear what he said about you. I swear I could have slapped him. Even Brian commented on it when we drove home afterwards.’

‘What did he say?’

‘That he hoped the rest of marriage to you wouldn’t be such a let-down. I was furious and was about to say something when Brian caught my eye and made a joke about you probably hoping the same thing about Colin.’

Naomi swallowed. ‘All these years on and you remember that evening in such detail?’ The only memory she had was her embarrassment at producing something so inedible.

‘Wouldn’t you, if Brian had said something like that about me?’ ‘Yes,’ she said quietly. ‘Yes, I would.’ Unable to meet her friend’s gaze, Naomi looked at the small bookcase to her right, which she had stripped and painted many times over, depending on how the mood took her. It was currently a deep shade of teal with burnished copper accents. On the middle shelf was a framed photograph of Colin and the girls, his arms around their shoulders as he knelt between them.