I turn back. The barman, the two men in the corner of the room and a young lad playing the fruit machine all turn and stare.

‘You need to hear this, Claire.’

I stalk back to him and push him down towards his seat. ‘Keep your bloody voice down.’

‘Mark kissed Billy’s teacher.’

‘What?’ I sink into a chair.

‘You heard me. That’s why your boys came to blows in the garden of the Lodekka last summer. While you and Liz were in the loos Mark got a call from his boss. When he left to answer it Billy said he hoped his dad wasn’t being bollocked again because Miss Christian wasn’t here to kiss him better. He said it quietly, so only I could hear, and I laughed. Jake wanted to know what was so funny so I told Billy to tell him.’

Stephen falls silent as the barman approaches our table and places a pint and a glass of whisky in front of him, but the self-satisfied smirk on his lips stays in place. I want to tell him that he’s drunk and he’s talking shit but I can’t.

‘Why would Billy say that about Miss Christian?’

Stephen shakes his head. ‘I’ve said enough.’

I stare at him in disgust. ‘No, you haven’t. Tell me what Billy meant.’

‘No. I’ve changed my mind.’

As he reaches for his pint a wave of fury courses through me and I sweep it clean off the table. It hits the ground and explodes, showering my lower leg with glass and beer.

‘Tell me. Now. Or I’ll give Caroline a call later and convince her never to take you back.’

Stephen remains straight-backed in his chair, refusing to be intimidated, but as his gaze shifts from mine I know that I have won.

‘I’ll tell you,’ he says. ‘But you won’t like it.’

The barman approaches with a brush and pan in his hands and a weary expression on his face. I sit back down.

Stephen waits until the barman has tidied away the mess, then sits forward in his seat, elbows on the table.

‘I loved Billy,’ he says. ‘Really loved him. But we weren’t always close, you know that. He used to hero-worship Mark but I noticed that changing when Billy hit his teens. I’d seen Jake do the same thing. It happens with boys, when they grow bigger and stronger. They feel like men, not little boys, and they question their dad’s authority. Mark did it with his dad. I would have done it with mine too, if he hadn’t fucked off.’ He laughs drily. ‘But I kicked off at John a few times, even if he was just my stepdad. No one was more surprised than me when I ended up joining the firm instead of Mark.’

He stares off wistfully into the distance and I clear my throat.