‘I’d better be getting back,’ Liv said, not entirely sure what she’d agreed to, but suspecting that Finn wouldn’t be telling Estelle about their coffee. On the way downstairs, she shook herself out; after all, it was just coffee. What harm could having a cup of coffee with him do – she wasn’t planning on running off with him, or anyone else for that matter.

*

There was something about seeing Finn and Estelle together that sparked something in her. She’d been putting it off since she’d found that note, but she knew now she couldn’t put it off any longer. She walked down the three flights of stairs to the huge foyer that was normally packed and noisy with people coming and going, but today, it was silent apart from the furry indistinct sound coming from speakers in the tiny gift shop next to the entrance.

She’d have to ring Pete. She’d thought that night when she found the note that the worst part would be having to tell Eddie that it was over; that she knew, that there was no going back. She’d been wrong. She’d known as soon as she heard his voice, bleary from the previous day’s booze, that telling Eddie would not be the worst of this mess. Telling Pete was the bit she was absolutely dreading. Then she thought of those Carry On movies and Hattie Jacques administering foul medicine, and she knew that was what she had to do now: she had to take her medicine, make the call that would break her best friend’s heart. She couldn’t put it off any longer.

As usual, Pete answered on the second ring.

‘What can I do for you Mrs Tucker?’ That was Pete, always in good form, quoting from Carry On Matron again.

‘Ha ha…’ she said, because she knew really this wasn’t a call for making jokes about. ‘Listen, I wanted to talk to you. I’ve found something…’

‘Go on.’ Pete was suddenly serious. He had the uncanny knack of being able to see right through her, even when he was over a hundred and fifty miles away; perhaps he picked it up in the silence as much as the words. Liv imagined him, sitting forward, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘I hope you’re sitting down for this, but it’s Eddie and…’

‘Anya?’

‘You already knew?’ Liv hadn’t expected that.

‘No, sorry, not about Eddie, not until you called just now.’

‘God, no, I’m sorry. I feel as if…’ She felt weirdly as if it was her fault, but that made absolutely no sense at all. ‘Are you okay?’