Plus, was it her imagination or was the woman even in the right place? Rather than striding forward, gift in hand, scouring the room for Jeanie and Harry like everyone else, she was staring around as if she didn’t recognize anyone. A gatecrasher? Robyn wondered with a frown. A wrong turn?

Tying the top of the bin bag, Robyn watched in interest as the newcomer’s expression suddenly changed, a muscle twitching in her jaw. Turning to see what had caught her eye, Robyn’s gaze fell upon Harry, holding court amidst a group of bowling-club cronies. He was laughing and moving his hands expressively, telling one of his tall stories, no doubt. Glancing back, Robyn saw that the woman, still staring, had begun walking swiftly in his direction.

Robyn felt her skin prickling, a portent of doom. Growing up, she’d had a Jack Russell, which would always stand rigid and bark whenever a thunderstorm was about to roll in, as if he could feel the electrical charge in the air. She could almost hear him barking now in her head, warning that the wind was changing.

Feeling unnerved, she watched the woman cross the floor towards Harry. And then she saw Harry’s face freeze. His smile falter. He stared at the woman, eyes bulging as if he’d seen a ghost. Paling and seeming to forget about the punchline to his story, he stepped through his friends to approach her. The two of them then moved to one side of the room together, while Jeanie stared after them in what looked like confusion. Robyn similarly couldn’t tear her eyes away, certain that something very important was happening.

‘All right!’ yelled the Tom Jones singer just then. ‘Anyone feeling sexy? This one’s for you!’ And the band launched into the opening chords of ‘Sex Bomb’, which prompted an immediate scream of joy from the bevy of aunts, as well as a whooping conga line of Jeanie’s knitting group as they flooded onto the dance floor.

‘What did I tell you?’ laughed Paula, reappearing and grabbing Robyn’s arm in the next moment. ‘Come on, let’s stun the crowd with our moves.’

‘Embarrass our kids, more like,’ Robyn said, already predicting her son’s expression of horror when he saw her awkward attempts at dancing, but she overcame her reluctance, allowing her sister-in-law to tow her onto the dance floor nonetheless.

A short while later, when she next glanced across the room to see what had happened to Harry and the stranger who’d appeared, Robyn noticed they had gone. So too had Jeanie. Perhaps it was nothing, she told herself, putting them out of her head.

Except it wasn’t.

Chapter Two

Chapter Two