‘What’re you eating?’ Paula suddenly realised that she wasn’t going to have time for breakfast before they went to the salon. She glanced at her watch, saw it was a quarter to ten already. Breakfast was out today; she would have to have an early lunch instead.

‘Muffins – went to Starbucks this morning.’

‘Without me?’ She laughed. ‘I miss you, Jules.’

‘Me too, but what’s it like? Are you freezing yet?’

As Julie said the words, Paula realised she hadn’t been up on deck and out in the open air since they set sail, just before her fateful trip to the sauna.

She shuddered. ‘Jules, you won’t believe this. I went to the sauna and got locked in. Locked in! I thought I was going to die.’

Expletives and murmurs of sympathy came down the line. Paula settled back against her pillows. She should have called Julie straight after it happened.

‘How did you get out?’

‘This woman came along, luckily. She was in there when I first went in. Oh my God, Jules, she was naked!’ Paula’s eyes widened at the memory. She was no prude, but it seemed so totally inappropriate.

‘Eww,’ said Julie.

‘Yes, so she came back and luckily let me out. I invited her to dinner with us last night, she’s here on her own.’

‘Why’d she come back to the sauna?’ said Julie.

‘She left her bracelet in there or something. Lucky for me she did; nobody else was coming along. Oh, and then I lost my bloody bag. I thought it had been stolen from the sauna, but Anna – that’s the woman who let me out – found it and returned it.’

There was silence at the other end of the phone.

‘You still there?’ Paula asked.

‘Yeah. Just, it seems like this woman is your guardian angel or something,’ said Julie, and Paula noted the careful tone she used.

She frowned as she looked at the phone. Was Julie jealous of her new friend?

‘What’re you on about?’ she scoffed.

‘Is she single?’

Paula nodded. ‘Yes, and skinny as a rake. Seriously, Tommy and I had the most beautiful steak dinner last night, and she only ate half a plate of salad!’

‘Careful, sweetie. There are women who make it their life’s ambition to nab men like your Tommy. Just be on your guard,’ said Julie.

Paula felt a flare of irritation, just as she had on the shopping trip. The woman was just one constant lecture. And what was with the continual digs at Tommy, the insinuations that he was going to go off with another woman? Just because it had happened to Julie…

She took a deep breath, not wanting to get into another fight with her best friend. ‘She doesn’t need to “nab” Tommy, she’s very wealthy herself, got a good career, her own business.’