She nodded to herself. She would. He had bought her this lovely holiday and she’d annoyed him before they had even got on the boat. But she wouldn’t go after him yet. When his mood was black, he wasn’t receptive to hearing her grovel. She would give him time and space to cool off. This was his holiday too, and God knows he deserved it, working all those hours.

But she didn’t want to spend however long it took him to calm down stuck in this room. As lovely as it was, she wanted to see what else the ship had to offer. She reached for the brochure next to the hamper and opened it, her eyes immediately landing on what she was seeking. Feeling much better, thoughts of Tommy diminished, she gathered up her bag and key card and left the room.

By the time Paula reached the sixth deck, they had set sail. She darted out of one of the heavy doors, gasping as the cold air hit her. She almost turned back, but reminding herself of where she would be in ten minutes did the trick, and she forced herself out onto the open-air deck and over to the edge.

Gripping the white railings, she watched the dock as the ship moved off. A few feet away, a family held their children aloft, gripping the kids’ arms in a wave as they cheered. Suddenly sad, Paula dropped her head. It wasn’t that it was a monumental moment – they weren’t on the Titanic or the last Concorde – but this was still a maiden voyage and she shouldn’t have been witnessing it alone.

Hitching her bag back onto her shoulder, she hurried back to pull the heavy door open and continued on to her original destination. As the sign for the spa materialised, she smiled with relief. This was her domain; this was something that was always just hers. A place where she felt at home.

In the little wooden changing room, she stripped quickly down to the bikini she had put on before she left her cabin, and grabbed her towel. Conscious of the elastic of her bottoms digging painfully into her thighs, she avoided the mirror on her way out. She made her way over to the lockers, frowning as she peered at them. They all appeared to be locked, and no amount of working her key card against them seemed to activate them. She looked around, realising there was nobody else there, and that this wasn’t likely to change. Everyone would be up on deck. She shoved her bag on the top locker and, clutching her towel to her stomach, moved down the narrow hallway towards the sauna.