Her face crumpled. I jumped up and went up to the counter to order us another drink. I had to get away from her. I was horrified at what she’d said about Tom, but didn’t want to weaken. She’s not your friend, I kept saying to myself. She was having an affair with Harry. Don’t go feeling sorry for her now. But when I turned at the counter and saw her looking so frail, destroyed, really, it wasn’t hard to understand how she’d fallen for Harry. He’s a nice guy. A sympathetic listener. Easy on the eyes. I think that’s when it dawned on me that she had a reason for the affair; Harry hadn’t.

When I sat back down she wrapped her hands around the coffee mug, as though its warmth comforted her. “Does Harry know what happened to Tom?” she asked.

“I haven’t told him.” I added sharply, “Have you?”

She shook her head. “Of course not.”

“He hasn’t said anything to me. I kept the newspapers away from him.” There had been only a short piece in the local press about Tom, not even a photo. It said he’d died by falling downstairs when he was drunk, and warned readers to be careful. My name wasn’t mentioned; it just said that a family friend had seen him fall. That wasn’t exactly how I would have described myself. “I wondered whether he might have heard about it from someone at work, but I don’t think so.”

Ruby drew a breath and I could see she was trying to pluck up her courage. “I need to ask you something. Something personal.”

“Go ahead.”

“When did you sleep with Tom?”

I wasn’t expecting that one. “Remember when you went to Paris with Harry?” I said eventually. “I saw you at the airport with him. Kissing him.” I was glad to see guilt suffuse her face. “I’d suspected for a while, but when I saw you together . . . well, it was pretty obvious what was going on. I went round to Tom’s to tell him you and Harry were having an affair.” I gave her my famous brazen look. “And we slept together.”

There was a dead silence, then she said, “I left home a few weeks after that trip. So you knew all that time ago?”

“I guessed before then,” I said. “I’m not stupid, Ruby.”

“And Tom knew, too. I didn’t realize.”

“He only knew because I told him.” I felt a surge of shame but quickly curbed it. “I don’t think he had a clue beforehand. I’m sorry, but if you were having an affair with my husband, was I meant to just take it?”