‘It’s not what she said, it’s what she didn’t say. She’s not saying the words out loud, but she’s all but implying that she and Nick are back together. She’s coming up with some guff about the break being good for them and both knowing exactly what they want now.’

Bella raised her head, then dropped it down again. She’d been nursing the same glass of wine for an hour. The queasiness had returned every morning, just as it had after Evan had left, only this time it was even fiercer. Why was she surprised? She couldn’t compete. Paige was Freddie’s mum and though she’d thought Nick wasn’t in love with Paige anymore – he’d even said so himself – clearly seeing her again had sparked those old feelings back into life. Any hope that she’d had of being wrong had dwindled slowly over the last three days when he hadn’t been round to see her. She could only think that he now considered the kiss to be a mistake. It was over. Over before it had even begun.

‘I hate the woman,’ said Caro, creeping up onto her elbow so she could take a sip of her hot chocolate. ‘I never liked her. Always thinking she was better than the rest of us. Swanning around the village like it was all beneath her. And now … now she’s just smug. Plain and simple. Smuggy McSmugface. If I see her coming, I walk the other way, but you can’t really avoid people in Meadowbank.’

The fire crackled in the grate. It was almost too hot where she was sitting on the floor, and Bella hugged her knees in. ‘Do you think Nick told her how close we were getting? Maybe she doesn’t have any idea?’

Cynthia held out her hand to her daughter and Bella reached up from her seat on the floor. ‘If he hasn’t told her, someone else in the village will and if it all played out as you say, I’m sure she must have had an idea when you turned up. You’re not great at hiding your emotions, my girl. She’d have seen the shock on your face.’

‘And embarrassment.’

‘Why were you embarrassed?’ asked Nina. She’d given up wrapping altogether and brushed biscuit crumbs from her jumper. ‘You’ve no reason to be.’

‘I just feel like I’ve made a fool of myself.’

‘How? You haven’t, Bella. Please don’t feel like that. You started spending time with a nice, handsome, single man. That that’s changed now isn’t your fault and you certainly don’t have anything to be embarrassed about.’

‘Well said, Nina,’ Cynthia added with a nod of her head and a tip of her wine glass.