Five minutes later, Ed comes back with a tray. Two beers for him, a bottle of wine for her and a table number to indicate he’s ordered food.

‘Wow, it must be some story.’

‘I know what you’re like,’ Ed points out. ‘I’ll tell you the story in two minutes flat, then you’ll ask me a thousand and one questions. Hence all this.’ He gestures to the tray of goodies.

‘So?’ she prods.

‘Sooooo …’ Ed sighs, deciding where to begin.

Darcy is waiting with bated breath.

He strangles a sigh before starting. ‘She came home from work on the Friday afternoon and said she wanted to break up.’

Darcy’s somewhat relieved Ed didn’t catch Sienna cheating on him. ‘Did she say why?’

‘Not at first.’ He exhales loudly, clearly reliving some of the pain. ‘But when I kept saying we could figure it out, she finally admitted there was someone else.’

‘Oh,’ Darcy murmurs, her stomach sinking like lead for her dear friend.

‘I felt more like an idiot than anything else,’ Ed admits. ‘I mean, I was declaring my love for her, promising I could fix whatever was broken, but she’s in love with another guy. It was humiliating.’ He takes a chug of his beer.

Darcy reaches out and squeezes his forearm.

‘I think I went into shock because I didn’t even say anything. Nothing. She kept asking if I was okay, but I just sat there.’ He shakes his head at himself. ‘Eventually she went into the bedroom to start packing and then the rage just hit. I flipped out, demanding to know who he was.’ He drinks some more beer.

‘Oh, Ed.’

‘I broke the table, a vase and then I punched a hole in the bedroom wall.’ He looks mortified.

‘No?’

‘It was bad.’

Darcy nods, imagining how horrible the whole scene must have been. They sit in silence for a little while, questions still flying through Darcy’s head. ‘Did she tell you who the other guy is?’

‘James, another teacher at her school.’

James Winters. Darcy has seen Sienna tagged in photos with him on Facebook at different work functions.

‘Nice guy.’ Ed shrugs.

Darcy isn’t quite sure whether he’s being serious or sarcastic.

‘Sadly, I’m not joking,’ Ed says. ‘I sat next to him at a trivia night last year. He was a good bloke.’

‘Not that good if he’s hooking up with somebody else’s girlfriend,’ Darcy points out.

‘I guess,’ Ed admits, his mood sombre.

‘Has it been going on long?’ Darcy suddenly feels cheated. Sienna is supposed to be her friend too. They only became friends because of Ed, but over the years they’d spent a lot of time together. Darcy has confided in Sienna about things with Drew, work and family.

‘She said she’s been “attracted” to him for quite a while.’

Darcy’s gobsmacked. ‘She actually admitted that?’