The sudden sound of her phone ringing broke the silence, making her shout out with shock. She ran into the bedroom, half-expecting to find she’d imagined this too. But when she picked up the phone it was still ringing and the screen was lit up, showing Adam’s name.

‘Just checking to see how you’re doing,’ he said, when she answered.

‘You’ve been gone less than two hours,’ Clodagh said. ‘I haven’t fallen apart yet, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

‘Of course not. I know you’re strong, but it didn’t stop me spending the entire journey wondering if I’d made a mistake. What happened today was terrible. I should have stayed and made sure you were okay.’

Part of her wished he’d had the guts to put her first and tell Jake to stuff the TV interview. At the same time, she was irritated at the assumption that she needed looking after.

‘You don’t need to worry about me,’ she said. ‘I’m going to have something to eat and get an early night.’

‘I keep thinking about the text message Nick sent you,’ Adam said. ‘Are you sure you don’t have any idea why he wanted to speak to you?’

There had been times in the past, when he was annoyed about something, that he would ask a question he already knew the answer to. Like the last time she’d left one of the deck chairs out overnight and he’d asked her if she knew how it had ended up in the garden. Acting as if he honestly didn’t know how it had got there. Usually, she was able to tell immediately when that’s what he was doing. Now, she didn’t have a clue if he knew more than he was letting on or if he was genuinely trying to understand what had happened.

‘I’ve already told you,’ she said. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Right. Well, I think I’ve worked it out.’

Her chest tightened. This was the real reason for his phone call. Not to check if she was okay. To tell her he knew.

‘Nick told you.’ Her voice sounded flat, almost like it was someone else speaking.

‘I didn’t tell you the whole truth earlier,’ he continued, talking over her, ‘about my row with Nick.’

Clodagh closed her eyes, braced herself for what was about to come.

‘I told you Nick was saying some nasty stuff about Vivienne. It’s what I said to the police as well. But the truth is, it was you he was being nasty about. He said I’d only got together with you because you reminded me of Vivienne. He tried to get me to admit that being with you could never match up to what I’d had with her.’