It’s only later, when I have taken myself out for a celebratory lunch of sushi and Sauvignon, congratulating myself on taking the initiative and bagging myself what did – in the end – turn out to be a sort of job interview, although it is of course a voluntary position to begin with, just like Caro’s, that I remember about Mags, and the chill that settled on me when she left. It’s only now, when I’ve had a chance to sit and relax for five minutes, to process the whole conversation, that I realize what made me feel so rattled. How did Mags specifically know that I was doing a yoga class at the leisure centre? Even I didn’t know until that morning. I sip at my cold wine as I think, but the icy finger that runs down my back has nothing to do with the ice in my glass as another thought strikes me. How does Mags know where I live, when I’ve never given her the address?

Chapter Sixteen

Rupert and I are back on track after our rocky weekend, and I am trying to keep things that way. I haven’t mentioned seeing Mags, or the strange unsettled feeling that comes over me when I replay our conversation in my head, the way she knew where I lived, and where I had been. I’ve also pushed away the way Rupert’s face changed that night, contorted into some ugly expression of anger and something that almost looked like fear. If I close my eyes, Harry’s face replaces Rupert’s and I see him coming for me, spittle flying from his mouth as he shouts, vicious words pouring from his lips as he calls me a bitch and his outstretched hands close around my throat. Rupert is nothing like Harry, I tell myself as we snuggle onto the sofa together each evening, my head on his chest, his fingers entangled in my hair, our hearts beating in rhythm. Maybe Rupert is right; I am so worried about someone wrecking this happy place I’ve found myself in that I keep finding things that point to everything going wrong. There have been no more letters, no more texts, no more disturbances that make me feel watched, hunted. All I need now to make everything perfect is for Angus Beaton to call and offer me a job.