‘Thank you so much,’ she said before Fiona could get started. ‘For covering for me last Thursday. Matt would have a fit if he knew I was out with James.’

Fiona gave her one of her laser stares, which seemed to pierce into her mind. ‘I need to talk to you about James. He’s not…’ She scrunched up her nose, like she’d smelt something repulsive. ‘He’s not worth the hassle and he has some evil little ways once you get to know him. I don’t want to see you throwing away all the good things you have with Matt for that piece of shit.’

Sara’s eyes widened. She wasn’t sure she’d ever heard Fiona use crude language before. Heat rushed through her body. ‘No. No, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not having an affair with him or anything. It’s not a relationship.’ She stopped herself, backtracked, her words tripping over each other in her eagerness to refute Fiona’s assumption. ‘Well, only in the business sense.’

Fiona’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you mean? I’ve seen you going off for lunch together. Or at least I assumed that’s what you were doing. Looking very cosy.’ Her stare was intense and Sara looked away, tidied the stack of invoices on the desk in front of her while she tried to find the right words to explain.

‘I’m doing some extra work for him in connection with his sportswear business. Just to bring some more money into the house while Matt gets his new business going.’ She gave a quick smile, gone before it had properly formed. ‘Last night was a one-off.’

Fiona gave a dismissive snort. ‘I’m happy to cover for you once. But I’m not going to make a habit of it.’

Sara cringed inside and knew she had some making-up to do. ‘I’m so grateful. Really I am. It was very kind of you and I feel bad that you had to lie for me. It won’t happen again, I promise.’

Fiona checked her watch and got up. ‘Look, what you do with your life is your business, but my advice would be to steer well clear of that man on anything but a business level. He has a way of…’ She stopped what she was saying, flapped a dismissive hand. ‘I’m sure I don’t have to spell it out for you.’

Sara watched her leave, not sure what to think. Was that jealousy talking? Her warning had certainly struck a chord. The idea of meeting up again with the group of people who were there on Thursday made her stomach churn. There had been something a bit off about that event, and although she couldn’t work out exactly what it was, she knew she wanted no part of it.