Sienna’s eyes flick to the ceiling. ‘Oh, I can’t take credit for that. I’ve had a lot of counselling in my life.’

Despite what Abby is now learning about Sienna, it shocks her to hear this. She still struggles to see her as needing anyone for anything, even though her being here in Abby’s house is evidence that she does. ‘Because of your mum leaving?’ she asks. Talking about Sienna’s past means Greg’s name shouldn’t be mentioned, for now at least, and that’s one small comfort.

Sienna ignores her question. ‘The problem is, I really believed that it didn’t actually matter what was going on in my life, it only mattered what things looked like on the outside.’ She rolls her eyes. ‘That’s so messed up, isn’t it?’

‘You were young,’ Abby says, to make her feel better, while inside wondering if Sienna still feels this way, if she is so determined to ignore the trouble in her marriage because she’s afraid of how it looks. Or worse still, what she is prepared to do to maintain the façade.

‘Greg was a broken man when I first started getting close to him,’ she continues, the sudden change in conversation once again throwing Abby off guard. ‘That’s why it took so long for me to get involved with him physically. I wanted to make sure he was over his ex-wife. Holly. I don’t just jump into things. I think them through, carefully, make sure I know what I’m doing.’

Abby can’t help but wonder if this is what Sienna did with the dinner party. The way Sienna’s eyes fix on her makes her shudder. She is already on edge, and this only heightens her guilt and shame. She nods, unable to answer with words.

‘What about you?’ Sienna asks. ‘I don’t think you’ve ever told me how you and Rob got together.’

‘Oh, you don’t want to hear about that now. It’s not that exciting.’

‘Go on, humour me. Please. I need something to take my mind off Greg.’

Abby wishes she could believe that this is Sienna’s only motivation for asking. A conversation to distract herself. But there’s no getting past how strange it is that she’s picked now to share so much.

Despite her misgivings, Abby begins. She explains the shaky start she had with Rob, something she often forgets about; it is so far from the life they now have together. So unimportant. But it’s far from irrelevant, Abby knows that, even though she tries hard not to acknowledge it.

‘Rob was with someone else when I met him,’ she says.

Sienna’s eyes widen.

‘No, wait a minute before you jump to conclusions. It wasn’t like that.’

‘Tell me, I’m intrigued.’ Sienna puts down her cup and leans forward.