“You’re coming for Thanksgiving, aren’t you?” she said, reaching desperately for something to divert her mind from the unwelcome pathway upon which it had set itself.

“Looking forward to it.” He smiled that kind smile. “What can I bring?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe some wine if you want it. Is there anything I should know about you and food? Are you allergic to anything?” And he was, of course, she now remembered, Californian. “Are you a vegetarian?”

“I order the full English breakfast,” he reminded her gently. “At Carroll’s.”

“Oh, yes. Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“He’s really absentminded,” she had told Emma at some point during the summer. “He said it drove his ex-wife crazy.”

“Well, there you are,” Emma had replied. “You’re like two peas in a pod—you can drive each other crazy.”

“Speaking of Carroll’s,” he said, “I’m on my way there now. Do you want to come?”

Two peas in a pod, she had said. Driving each other crazy.

“God, no!” she said quickly.

He smiled. “You know your own mind, don’t you?” he said.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was thinking about something else. I can’t come to Carroll’s, unfortunately—I have to be somewhere for a dog. I don’t want to be rude, but I really, really can’t come. Truly.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “We’ll do it another time, maybe.”

They parted at the front gate, and she watched his broad, surprisingly athletic back as he walked down the street and around the corner.

That evening, Sophie presented herself at the greeting-card shop in Chelsea where Jamie had been working late. He was selling a birthday card to an elderly customer, and when he saw her, his face became alight.

“What are you doing here?” he said. “I thought this was the day you were staying by the fire all day.”

“I have a craving for Thai food,” she told him. “And you’re the only person I know who likes it as hot as I do.”

“You didn’t have to come all this way,” he said. He looked at her, beaming in unconcealed joy. “It’s freezing cold out, I’d have met you somewhere.”

“Well, I wanted to see where you work,” she said. “I’ve been indoors all day and it was starting to drive me mad, and Lulu’s come home in the worst mood you can possibly imagine. And we’ve been to all the Thai places near me, I want to try one around here. A hot one.”

All of which statements were perfectly true, she reminded herself. Perfectly true, and ample reason for her having made the journey across London. She was not feeling guilty about what she was about to tell Jamie over the Thai meal, which was one of his many favorite sorts of food, for the simple reason that there was no reason to. She had made a professional decision about how to spend her Thanksgiving, which, yes, was a little bit unfortunate for him, but which would benefit her more than it would inconvenience him, and might in the future benefit him, too. Jamie would understand this. Any reasonable person would.