Just met Amy in the pub. She says you were invited to her dad’s birthday party. She asked me why you just dashed off without giving a reason. What’s all that about?

Al stares at the message for a moment and then presses Send. He finishes his supper, although his appetite is gone, and without looking again towards Amy and her friends he gets up and goes out.

Under the cover of the general conversation, Sam leans slightly towards Amy, seated on his left.

‘So is he Al?’

‘Yes,’ she answers shortly.

She’s glad now that she followed her instinct and, encouraged by Sam, went across and asked the question, but she is angry and embarrassed. Al’s reluctance to talk about Cosmo confirms that something is going on and she feels humiliated.

‘But he didn’t tell you what the emergency was?’ mutters Sam.

Amy shakes her head, aware of Charley watching them across the table. Charley has been the most difficult person to cope with; the one who wants to know what has happened.

‘So where is he?’ she asked when she arrived earlier. ‘Can’t wait to meet him again.’

She was ready to tease Amy, to enter into the spirit of the thing, and when Amy said Cosmo wasn’t coming Charley stared at her in surprise.

‘Oh, no,’ she said, disappointment and sympathy flowing like honey. ‘Why ever not, hon?’

Amy shrugged, pretending indifference. ‘Some emergency cropped up. He’s had to dash back to London. Never mind. We’ll manage without him. The important thing is that Dad has a great time.’

She could tell that Charley wasn’t convinced by this casual show and Amy prayed that she’d let it drop. Luckily, Dad came in and the moment passed, but Charley has been on the alert, waiting to have another chat. True to his word, Sam made certain that he was sitting next to Amy but even that seems to have alerted Charley’s attention and she’s been watching them across the table, catching Amy’s eye, giving her a little wink, as if she knows something Amy doesn’t. She’s seen Amy go to talk to Al and now she’s looking even more inquisitive and Amy would like to scream.