She finished her beer, put the bottle on the floor. ‘I’ve realised most of my unhappiness stems from wanting more than you can give.’

‘Yeah, for me too,’ I said. ‘I feel like I’ve been giving too much already. If you add it all up – you, Sarah, the kids …’

‘Yeah, I know,’ she said. ‘I reckon I need to focus more on my friends and creative projects. I don’t want to put pressure on you. I need to feel free, to be open, for us both to be open in every way, to …’

Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa …

She finished, I nodded and said, ‘What do you mean by open? Like … sexually?’

She sat forwards, took my hands. ‘I mean in every way, Chris. You know, like you and Sarah. If you or I meet someone and feel like taking things, you know, further, we can do that.’

Your nearly insatiable sexual appetite …

‘What if you fall in love with another guy?’

‘Gosh, well, I suppose that’s a risk. But would it be such a bad thing? It might free you up a little.’

‘What if they want kids?’

‘We can cross that bridge if we come to it, I guess. It might even be a woman.’

‘Oh, right.’ My hands were shaking. I withdrew them from Biddy’s, rubbed my thighs, ruffled my hair, didn’t want her to see anyone else. Monogamy, our monogamy – I wasn’t ready for this. ‘We haven’t discussed Zac,’ I said. ‘The stuff Winford was saying that night.’

She shrugged. ‘Yeah, well, I’m sorry about that. But I’m pretty sure he’s not enrolled at uni. I’ve been doing some digging and … He’s not enrolled there, Chris.’

‘I’ve seen his textbooks, Biddy. He’s doing a summer intensive.’

Manufacturing Planning and Control for Supply Chain Management had looked particularly riveting.

‘I can’t explain that. I’m just telling you what I know.’

I looked at her, looked away. What did she know? What did I know? What did Winford know? ‘I’m really worried about Oliver and Sophie,’ I said, eyes flooding, blinking.

‘Oh, Chris …’ She got off the sofa, onto her knees, leant in, her head on my lap, hands on my back. ‘Your kids are fine, Chris, they’re fine.’

‘I need to investigate him,’ I said. ‘I need to start that right away.’

* * *

Biddy’s admin friend at the university had done some digging and told her Zac wasn’t enrolled in the masters program. That seemed compelling, but it was hardly a smoking gun.

‘How can we be sure?’ I said on the sofa. ‘Like, completely sure.’

She passed me another slice of pizza, licked her fingers.

‘Why don’t we google him and see what happens.’

She went to the kitchen, returned with her laptop, sat next to me. In an ideal world we’d have had some make-up sex already, but …

I typed Zac Batista, hit Enter.