I wiped my hands on my skirt and glanced up at Max who winked at me, then I picked up the platter of tiny eggs and scuttled out of the kitchen, avoiding Eleanor’s eyes as I passed.

‘Where’s the lovely Edith?’ asked a dark-haired man with a full moustache, who was dressed in jeans and a blue V-neck sweater and looked a lot like Burt Reynolds. A woman sat beside him on the settee in a purple floaty dress, her bosoms spilling over as if trying to escape. Her hair was scraped back into a tight bun, which dragged the sides of her face up, pulling at the skin.

‘God knows, David. I thought she came down but she’s disappeared again,’ said Eleanor. As she spoke she frowned at me as if it were my fault Edie wasn’t around. I dropped my eyes and offered the platter to the two on the settee.

‘Teenagers, eh?’ David chuckled and reached for an egg, which he popped into his mouth in one.

‘I’m at my wit’s end with her at the moment. She’s nothing but trouble. Don’t even talk to us about Hartwood House. They’re refusing to take her back. I mean what the hell are we supposed to do with her?’

‘Children,’ said the Barbie doll, ‘are a constant source of disappointment.’

‘That’s why we send them away,’ said David. ‘Can you imagine having to spend term time with them as well?’ He laughed.

‘David Christie, don’t!’ said the woman with the escaping breasts. ‘The poor girl looks horrified. Max, what’s her name again?’

‘Tamsyn.’

‘Tamsyn, darling, we adore our offspring, I promise you. Ignore everything you hear tonight. We’re all totally full of shit!’ The woman laughed and the rest joined in, clinking glasses, sipping champagne, seemingly congratulating themselves on being full of shit.

‘Max,’ Eleanor said, as the laughing died down. ‘You seem to have topped everybody else up but forgotten me.’

She smiled and pushed her glass out towards him.

He hesitated, then tilted the bottle and poured.

‘Tamsyn,’ he said. ‘Would you mind fetching another bottle from the fridge?’

I carried the empty bottle into the kitchen and found Edie leaning against the worktop, smoking. When I came in, she pressed the cigarette onto one of the plates to extinguish it.

‘Can you imagine how desperate Max and Eleanor must be to hang out with people like that?’

‘I have to take more champagne in to them.’

She made a face at me. ‘Why are you being so grumpy?’

I hesitated. Then said carefully, ‘I just wish you’d told me Eleanor wanted me to work tonight.’

Edie furrowed her brow. ‘What did you think she wanted?’

I lowered my eyes and shrugged my shoulders.

‘Look, if I’ve done something wrong, I’m sorry.’

I lifted my head and forced a smile. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.