‘Just something I saw today,’ she answered in that same blithe tone. ‘They were in the water together with their arms around each other. There was something so intense about it …’ Her words drifted into the air between them, and then she stepped into her shoes and said: ‘Well, you used the word “romance” – that’s how it struck me. Romantic. Dreamy.’

He shook his head, having difficulty absorbing this.

‘Did you say anything to Beth about it?’ he asked.

‘No.’

‘Good. Let’s not have her write out her gay confession just yet.’

‘Why are you being so prickly about this?’

‘I just think you’re barking up the wrong tree. Give the kid a break.’

‘All right. Fine.’

Her blitheness was starting to irritate him, and he was already cross with her. The news of her promotion, sprung on him barely an hour ago, was still percolating through his brain, stirring up all kinds of unwelcome emotions. It hadn’t helped that he’d found out third hand. He and Eva had just returned from Châtellerault; he’d parked the car alongside the boathouse and was walking back towards La Grange when Corinne appeared beside him, half-hopping as she attempted to fit her foot into an espadrille while trying to catch up with him, giggling at her own clumsiness.

‘Did you hear the news?’ she asked, reaching out to grab hold of his arm, steadying herself against him as she successfully fitted the shoe over her heel.

‘What news?’

‘About Abi. She got that big job. We were having our picnic when she got the call.’

Confusion had swept over him and she’d seen it in his face.

‘You didn’t know?’ she asked, the amusement draining from her features. Instead her eyes grew serious, searching his face for evidence she might have upset him.

‘No, it’s fine,’ he stumbled.

She bit down on her lip. ‘I’m sorry. I should not have said.’

He’d shrugged it off, but when he’d confronted Abi and she’d confirmed it, she’d been more upset about Corinne spilling the beans than sheepish over her own deception, keeping the promotion from him.

‘What the hell does it matter who told me?’ he’d hissed.

But she’d been quietly furious. ‘I wanted to tell you myself.’

And now they had to go through the charade of this celebratory dinner with Val and Guy when all he really wanted to do was sit alone by the river with a book and a beer. His thoughts and emotions were all tangled up. He really didn’t need this added complication – Abi’s spurious and baseless imaginings about Beth and Corinne.