‘You say that and yet you keep letting her back in.’

‘No, I—’

‘You’re trying to steal her from me.’

Eva was shaking her head, staring at her sister’s face wet now with tears.

‘I’m not, I swear.’

‘You are!’ She swiped at her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve, focusing once more on Eva. ‘It’s because of the house, isn’t it?’

‘What house?’

‘Melissa’s! You’re jealous because she left it to me! And now you’re trying to steal Corinne so that you can punish me!’

‘Don’t be absurd—’

‘I’m not being absurd!’ She was screaming now. ‘Admit it!’

Corinne moved swiftly, catching Beth by the elbow and ushering her out the door, across the landing. There was an urgency to her movements, and Beth felt the painful grip of fingers around her upper arm. Once they were alone in her room, Corinne turned on her.

‘What are you doing, speaking to your sister like that? Can’t you see she’s upset?’

‘She’s upset?’ Beth screeched, while Corinne looked around the room with a frown, snatching up her clothes.

‘Things are difficult for her in college. It’s hard for her, trying to make new friends.’

‘Is that why you’re in her room so much? So that you can be her new friend?’ Beth hated the sarcasm in her own voice but couldn’t help herself.

Corinne ignored the question, turning away from her, and discreetly pulled on her underwear underneath her towel. It pained Beth – this new modesty in her friend. She remembered a time when Corinne had felt free to dress and undress in their room without regard to her naked body. This easiness between them – like so much else – had shrivelled and died.

‘You should be kinder to her,’ Corinne said.

The words grated, as did the sanctimonious tone. Jealousy moved inside her, a malignancy eating away at her devotion. And the rage – always there – simmering beneath the surface.

‘I suppose you’ll want her to come to the cinema with us,’ Beth remarked, and Corinne straightened up and looked at her.

‘Beth?’

‘We’d better get going,’ Beth said quickly, looking around for her jacket. ‘There’s a bus in fifteen minutes—’

‘Beth—’

‘But if we miss that, there’s another ten minutes later,’ she rattled on desperately, trying to ward off what she knew was coming. ‘We should still make it on time—’

‘I’m not going,’ Corinne announced softly but firmly. She was dressed now, standing barefoot, her hair dripping on to her shoulders, darkening patches of damp in the cotton of her T-shirt.

‘Why not?’ Beth asked, the surge of disappointment making her sound childish and desperate.

‘She needs me,’ Corinne said softly.

‘I need you.’

A trembling had started inside her.

‘I’m sorry, Beth—’