‘Monty, whatever you tell me, I’m not going to tell him that you’ve told me.’

His shoulders dropped. ‘He’ll know one of us has told you.’

‘He won’t. Rowan is a terrible liar, even now. Which is probably part of why he doesn’t want to see me. No poker face.’ I fact-checked myself, though, because he did have a face for lying when he needed one. ‘Actually, he does have a poker face. But he’s clumsy, and that’s kind of enough.’ I sipped my tea. ‘Fred and I saw him out a few nights ago.’

‘You both saw each other is my understanding of it.’

Here we go. I sucked in a breath. ‘I wondered whether he’d tell you.’

‘Only me,’ he rushed to add; Monty obviously thought it still mattered who knew. ‘He hasn’t told any of the others.’

‘I’m actually not all that worried about people knowing. Unlike Rowan, I’ve only slept with the one other woman and that seems a lot more decent than however many he’s brought home to you and Ian.’

Monty flashed a tight smile then stared into his mug. He pushed out a long breath before he spoke. ‘Remember Leonard? He was at your engagement shindig and, I don’t know, friendships reconnect and all that, so he’s been spending the odd night out with us since then. But Rowan … he slept with Leonard’s girlfriend.’ I didn’t – couldn’t – answer. So he carried on, ‘The night he saw you out with Fred.’

So it’s probably my fault, I thought as I sipped my tea to buy myself a second. ‘Wait, he was out with someone when I saw him. Was that her?’

He shook his head. ‘He left you, bumped into her, saw an opportunity.’ I swallowed another mouthful of tea and winced at the heat; it was a good enough distraction for a second, though. ‘Edi, I’m sorry, I don’t know – Christ, should I even be telling you this?’ I only shrugged; I didn’t have words yet. ‘Apparently he’d got a bet going with Patrick. Leonard and this girl, they’re not serious, not really, and rumour had it she was about to bin him anyway so Rowan and Pat decided—’

‘I’m cutting you off.’ I gazed into my mug as I spoke. If I look at you I’ll cry. ‘I think it’s better for everyone that I don’t know the end of that story, Mont.’

‘Understood.’ He took a sip of his drink and when he lowered the mug I could see a slight tremor of nerves that made me feel sorry for him.