“Julie is my partner now, Zoya.” She sighs. “And you keep referring to how things used to be, but I think you’re forgetting that, in the end, they were not that great.”

“Oh, here we go again.”

“No, here you go again.”

“This was clearly a mistake.” I push the glass of wine away.

“Clearly.” Rebecca looks like she’s had enough as well. It’s strange to think that there used to be a time, not even so long ago, that we couldn’t get enough of each other’s company. That we believed we’d be together forever. How quickly things can change.

“I don’t want things to be like this between us.” She injects some softness into her voice. “You are still important to me.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you started banging someone else.” I get up. “And it’s easy for you to say what you want and how I’m still important to you and yadda, yadda, yadda, when you get to go home to your new girlfriend after this, and all I have is an empty house, in which everything reminds me of us. You left me with nothing. And you took my self-esteem along with you as well.” I curse myself for the last sentence.

“I know it’s hard.” Her voice breaks.

“I hadn’t exactly expected to find myself single again on the cusp of fifty.”

“I know. But you’re Zoya Das. You must have women lining up for you.”

“Please, don’t give me that superficial bullshit. You’re only saying it to make yourself feel better, anyway. To ease your guilt because the fact remains that you cheated on me for an entire year. Well, guess what? You will always be guilty of that and no matter how many times you say you’re sorry, I will never forgive you for it.”

I hear some shuffling behind the bar. The bartender is looking in our direction.

“I’d better go. I’ll let you know when an offer comes in for the house.”

Rebecca is silent. It reminds me of the silence she shrouded herself in as she was packing her things after she first told me. That fateful day my whole life came crumbling down.

“I wanted to strangle and kiss her at the same time,” I say.

“Maybe you should take one of Amber’s yoga classes. Even Josephine is a fan now,” Caitlin says, as she presents me with a tumbler of whiskey.

“Oh sure, me lined up next to a bunch of happy lesbian couples. I mean, even you are monogamous now, for crying out loud. What has the world come to?”

Caitlin rolls her eyes. “Aw, poor Zoya Das. Poor little rich girl.” She shoots me a look over the rim of her glass. “I understand you’re upset. Today was an emotional day. And Rebecca truly fucked you over. But you need to move on.”