‘Stop that right now!’ Mel said. ‘That’s exactly how he wants you to feel. Did it occur to you that he might be rattled and afraid? You have your family with you, and they’re having a blast. You have a stupendous job. What’s going on in his life? He has no home, no family, and who knows if he even has any money? What happened to the big deal in India, huh? Have you asked him? How come he can just drift into Bali and annoy you at your job? Push him as far away as possible. Call in some of your buddies up there. Frighten the shit out of him.’

‘Mel! I can’t do that. God, he might end up with cement boots at the bottom of the ocean.’

‘So?’

Grace couldn’t help but laugh, and she felt some of the tension in her body easing. ‘Stop being so outrageous – though it does make me feel better. I’ll tell him he can’t just walk in on me like this. That he needs to stop acting like we’re still married –’

‘But you are,’ Melanie interjected. ‘Is your separation legal?’

Grace sighed. ‘As I said, nothing is simple. You have to be separated for a year before you can file for divorce. And Mr Judd told me not to rush into that. I don’t want to do anything that will make Lawrence more difficult to deal with than he already is. And I don’t have time to do anything while I’m over here anyway.’ Grace could feel her anxiety levels rising again. ‘He could try to use Daisy as a bargaining chip, I suppose. That happens, Mr Judd says, and then the woman tends to cave in.’

‘No, you don’t want that. What does he want from you anyway? He’ll say he wants to see Daisy, of course. I only hope he doesn’t use her to get at you.’