She went to a sink as though she hadn’t heard me, and then stared down at the running water without moving. I didn’t know what to do. After a while I put a hand on her arm. ‘Rose? Is there anything the matter? Can I help?’

She looked up, as though she hadn’t known I was there. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘oh, Beth. I’m – no – I’m fine,’ but then she started to cry.

‘Rose, what’s happened?’ I said.

She waved me away. ‘No, no, please, don’t be kind. Please, I couldn’t bear it.’ She pulled a hand towel from the dispenser and put it to her face, then gave a half laugh through her tears. ‘Ridiculous. I can’t seem to stop crying. Oh please ignore me, Beth, you’re very kind. It’s just I have no one to talk to, no one at all.’

‘But I’m sure you have lots of friends,’ I said, surprised.

‘Oh yes,’ she agreed dispiritedly. ‘I’m very lucky.’ And then she whispered, ‘I just feel so ashamed.’

‘Well you could tell me,’ I coaxed, ‘I wouldn’t tell anyone.’

It was then that she broke down and began to cry as though her heart was broken. ‘Oh, Beth, it’s such an awful mess.’

On impulse I put my arms around her, just as she had done to me all those weeks before. ‘What am I going to do?’ she said. ‘What on earth am I going to do?’

And then she told me what was wrong, how Oliver had confessed to having an affair with one of his students at the university. ‘She’s nineteen,’ Rose said. ‘Nineteen! He said it just happened, that it got out of control, that he’d tried to end it but she became obsessed with him. He says she’s unstable, that he hadn’t realized how fragile she is and that … that he’s sorry, and …’ she broke down again, too distraught to go on.

‘Oh,’ I whispered. ‘Oh Rose, I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s all so sordid,’ she cried, ‘so humiliating. How could he do it to us, Beth? To me and Emily? How could he?’

I don’t think she meant to tell me so much. I think it was like a dam breaking, that it was a relief to confide in someone. She said she couldn’t face anyone finding out, her family, her friends, I think she only talked to me because I was so removed from her personal life. And people have always said I’m a good listener, perhaps she felt safe unloading it all on me. Eventually she stopped crying. ‘I have to go,’ she said. ‘I’m due to see a patient any minute.’ She took a gulp of breath and dried her eyes, but she looked so hopeless still, so crushed.