Paula pulled the duvet tighter around herself as she listened to the captain’s daily briefing over the tannoy. She liked his updates, the little titbits of information that he spoke about in authoritative but slightly camp tones. She wondered if Tommy enjoyed them as much as she did. She turned over to face him, but found a space in the bed, an indent on the pillow the only evidence he had been there at all.

She sighed, stretching as she ran her fingers through her hair. As she did so, she remembered that her appointment at the salon was at ten o’clock. She dragged herself out of bed, and without looking in the mirror pushed her hair back and wound it up with a band. She dressed quickly in skinny jeans and a plain black shirt.

‘Tommy?’ She called his name, but the room was empty. He must have left for the fishing expedition with his new mates.

She sighed deeply, remembering the days when he would kiss her awake just to tell her he was going to work. It seemed like a long time ago, and vaguely she wondered when it had stopped. It seemed that she’d spent most of this holiday so far on her own, and weren’t they supposed to be having an adult discussion about starting a family? Since the night he had presented her with the cruise tickets, it hadn’t been mentioned.

A horrible thought came to her mind. He hadn’t ‘presented’ her with the tickets; he had distracted her with them. And now he’d vanished again, off on a deep-sea fishing day trip with his new mates instead of spending time with her, his wife. He’d never expressed an interest in fishing before. Or had he? After all, she hadn’t known anything about his apparent passion for astronomy before this trip either.

She glanced at her phone on the bed. It was time to swallow her pride. She snatched it up, keyed in a number and closed her eyes as she waited. When the person on the other end answered, she swallowed audibly.

‘Julie?’ she said tentatively.

‘Paula?’

There was a connection there, relief in both women’s tone, and having known each other for so long, they both heard it.

‘I’m so sorry!’ bleated Paula.

At the same time Julie said, ‘I’m so glad you called!’

There was no need for an apology, though both of them spoke the obligatory words. There was no need for explanations as to what had made them act the way they had. To Paula’s relief, they simply picked up where they had left off.

‘I saw your cruise news on Facebook. How’s it going out there?’ Julie asked, her voice muffled.