‘Oh, you can make a joke about it, Katie. But you’re expecting too much of yourself, and because of that, everybody else expects too much of you, too. And you come back here every night and you have nobody to talk to and nobody to cuddle you and listen to all of your woes.’

‘How about a drink?’ said Katie.

‘Ooh, please. I’ll have a glass of that Redbreast if you have any left.’

‘I do, yes. It was Conor’s favourite. I bought him a bottle to cheer him up after his operation, but he never even opened it.’

‘Katie… he was a man in a million, wasn’t he?’

‘I don’t have any luck at all when it comes to men, do I?’

Katie put on some background music, Beau Jarred’s ‘Arpeggios in High Altitude’, and then she poured herself a vodka and tonic and a whiskey with a little splash of water for Kyna. They took off their shoes and sat on the couch together, while Barney and Foltchain flopped themselves down in front of the fire.

‘There was something important you wanted to tell me,’ said Katie.

‘How did you know?’

‘Because I’m a detective. And because I know you so well.’

‘I’m worried that it’s too soon after you losing Conor.’

‘Well, tell me anyway. The worst I can do is burst into tears.’

‘I hope you won’t. But I’ve been thinking about it and thinking about it and I don’t know how to hold it in any longer. It’s probably the most crucial decision that I’ll ever make in the whole of my life.’

Katie already had an inkling of what Kyna was going to say, and she silently prayed that she was wrong, and that Kyna was going to surprise her with something completely different. She loved Kyna, but she knew that Kyna was looking for a permanent relationship, even marriage; but apart from her career, Katie wanted to have a strong and understanding man in her life, and she also wanted to be a mother again, before it was too late. After all this time, she still hadn’t had the heart to get rid of little Seamus’s empty cot, or the romper suits that he hadn’t lived to wear.

Although it would upset her, she hoped that Kyna was going to tell her that she had found another woman, and that even though she wanted them to remain the closest of friends, they could no longer be lovers.

But she didn’t say that. Instead she said what Katie was afraid she would say, almost word for word.