‘No, I don’t think so. Not yet.’ Not because she was scared to, but because Brody’s advice still rang true in her ears. ‘I don’t want to give her the satisfaction. I think the best thing I can do is just live my life, do what I think is right. I don’t need her permission to do that.’

Jeremy nodded towards the dance floor. ‘Does this life you’re going to live include dancing? The kind where we stay two feet away from each other at all times, of course.’

‘Maybe,’ she replied, smiling. ‘In a bit.’

As promised, they kept their tour around the dance floor purely platonic, smiling at each other every now and then, but mostly just enjoying moving to the music. The salsa lessons must have helped, Anna thought, because she didn’t feel as self-conscious as she used to at events like this.

They were halfway through dancing to their third song when Anna felt a sudden change in the atmosphere. She looked around, but beyond the dance floor, the rest of the room fell away into shadows. The people sitting around the banqueting tables drinking and chatting were little more than dark blurs. A thought dropped into her mind like a pebble hitting a pool of water: someone was watching her. The next realization followed on like a ripple.

Gayle had arrived. The hairs on the back of Anna’s neck lifted and she shivered.

‘Cold?’ Jeremy mouthed to her.

She shook her head. ‘Do you mind if we go and sit down for a bit?’ she mouthed back, with hand gestures for extra clarity.

He looked slightly perplexed, but he followed her lead as she headed away from the dance floor. Thankfully, in the opposite direction from where she’d felt that… presence. It was like being trapped in a bad horror movie.

She tried to chat as much as the music would allow and, when Jeremy went to get a second round of drinks, Anna decided to escape the function room on the pretence of going to the Ladies. She was halfway down the plush, carpeted corridor before a steely voice rang out behind her.

‘How dare you!’

Anna spun around to find Gayle marching up behind her, fire in her eyes.

‘How dare you bring that man here! Are you trying to hurt us, to hurt me? Because well done, you’ve done a marvellous job!’

‘Teresa said I could bring a plus-one,’ Anna said, trying to keep the wobble out of her voice.

‘Even if she did, you should have known better! You should have brought someone else – that loud friend of yours. She would have been fine!’

‘Her name is Gabriela,’ Anna said stonily.

‘You shouldn’t have brought him to our family party,’ Gayle said, and Anna couldn’t help noticing a tiny bead of bubbly saliva at the corner of her lips. Good grief. She was actually foaming at the mouth.

A girl in a short silver dress and high heels tottered past on her way to the loos. Anna had to step to the side to make room for her, which gave her some much-needed distance from Gayle.