‘I figured you didn’t want me to. I assume you didn’t tell her yourself.’

‘You assume correctly.’

‘I hope you don’t feel guilty about what happened between us,’ she said. ‘Or worse, ashamed.’

‘No.’

‘Good. You’ll never know what that afternoon meant to me.’ After an awkward pause, she added: ‘Or how it changed my life.’

There was nothing to say in reply, so again, he said nothing.

‘Anyway, enough of that,’ she said. ‘It’s over and done. We don’t need to talk about it.’

‘Okay.’

She glanced at the painting of Birch with emotions he couldn’t read, and she drank more Sauvignon Blanc. ‘So.’

‘So.’

‘Tarla tells me she’s trying to set you up with Caprice,’ Diane said.

Cab rolled his eyes. ‘Well, you know my mother.’

‘I do. You could do a lot worse, Cab. Caprice is brilliant, beautiful, driven. What we’ve done at Common Way is mostly thanks to her. Really, it should be her on the ticket, not me.’

‘I don’t exactly see myself as a politician’s courtesan,’ Cab said.

‘Oh, with Caprice, I suspect you’d enjoy the experience,’ Diane replied, smiling. ‘However, it’s your choice. You don’t need all these middle-aged women interfering in your love life. Speaking of which, how is it for you having Tarla close to you again?’

‘Challenging,’ Cab said.

‘So I gather. She has some choice words for your girlfriend. What’s her name? Wawa?’

‘Lala,’ Cab said. ‘No, they don’t exactly get along. Lala met us for breakfast after Mass a couple months ago. Tarla said the Catholic Church should change its name to IHOP. International House of Pedophiles.’

‘Your mother does speak her mind,’ Diane murmured.

‘Yes, she does.’

‘She thinks you’ve spent your life running away from her.’

‘No, just running,’ Cab said, ‘but she has a point.’

‘So why do you do it?’

Cab sipped his wine. He had no intention of answering, but it was a good question. He usually avoided self-reflection the way he avoided yoga and Michael Bublé. He could have blamed Catch-a-Cab Bolton on Vivian Frost, the lover who’d betrayed him, the lover he’d killed; but the truth was, it had started long before her. He could have blamed Hollywood. He could have blamed Tarla, or his father, who didn’t even exist for him. Any of those were easier than blaming himself.

‘Are you planning to run away again?’ Diane asked, when he ignored her question.

‘My lieutenant in Naples would probably be happier if I did,’ Cab said, smiling.

‘Hiding behind jokes. Just like your mother. She loves you, you know. You have no idea how abandoned you’ve made her feel. You two have only each other, yet you chose to keep yourself thousands of miles away from her for years.’