‘I’m sorry,’ she said, using her sleeve to rub the tears away. A pointless activity because no matter how often she wiped her face, more tears kept coming. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Hey.’ Bella put an arm around Clodagh’s shoulders and gave her a hug. ‘There’s no need to apologise. You’re not the one who’s done something wrong, are you?’

Two hours later, Clodagh was sitting across the table from Bella finishing off a plate of chicken curry.

‘I had no idea I was so hungry,’ she said, using a piece of naan bread to wipe the sauce off her plate.

‘When did you last eat?’ Bella asked.

‘Yesterday morning, I think.’ Clodagh took a sip of water to cool the burning sensation on her tongue. The curry Bella had made was delicious but had a strong chilli spice to it that Clodagh wasn’t used to.

‘No wonder you’re hungry, then. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Simon loves curry so I’ve got a few recipes I can cobble together quite quickly. It helped that you had all the ingredients here already.’

‘That’s down to Adam,’ Clodagh said. ‘The kitchen is his domain, not mine.’

She put the unfinished piece of bread on her plate, suddenly feeling sick.

‘Have you spoken to Simon this evening?’ she asked, keen to move the subject away from Adam.

‘He called earlier,’ Bella said, ‘while you were in the bath. He says he’s missing me. Then again, that’s what he always says.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean,’ Bella put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. Something about the way she looked at Clodagh, her blue eyes staring intently, triggered a memory. ‘It’s what men always say, isn’t it? That they love us and they miss us. But it’s all bullshit. The only people they really care about is themselves.’

‘I thought you were happy with Simon.’

Clodagh tried to focus on the memory but it kept slipping in and out of focus, just like Bella herself. She was still leaning forward, but her features were blurring and multiplying until Clodagh could see several Bellas, all looking at her with an identical expression on their faces. Clodagh recognised the expression, but it took a moment to find the right word to describe it. When she did, she sat back so suddenly she knocked over the glass of water on the table in front of her.

Anger.

Clodagh wanted to ask what had made Bella so angry, but she couldn’t get her mouth to work properly. Besides, Bella was speaking again, her voice low and hard, her eyes boring into Clodagh like she could see inside Clodagh’s head.

‘Simon’s no different to any other man. They’re all liars, in one way or another. And you know something, Clodagh? The only way to deal with a liar is to play them at their own game.’