I certainly hadn’t – I’d been desperate for her acceptance. I remember how I had felt that day when she’d said I was ‘one of us’, how pathetically grateful I’d been.

‘Sadie was always on at Caro… she always wanted whatever Caro had; I just didn’t realize that that extended to me. If Caro bought a new bag, Sadie would turn up with the same one the next day. If Caro was wearing a new dress, sure enough a few days later Sadie would be wearing it.’

I think back to the first time I went to Sadie’s house, how it had struck me that her furniture and the décor in the sitting room had been remarkably similar to the sitting room at Rupert’s house. ‘What did Caro think about it?’

‘She didn’t mind,’ Rupert says, ‘most of the time anyway. I got more annoyed about it than her, I think. She took it as a form of flattery most of the time.’

I don’t know whether to feel offended or relieved that Sadie clearly doesn’t think my style is worth copying. ‘Most of the time?’

‘Yeah, there were some times when it did really get to Caro. I mean, Sadie can be a bit overbearing, you know that. Sometimes Caro didn’t want her to copy her. I remember Caro being pissed off about a pair of earrings – she was wearing them for the party…’ he breaks off for a moment, brushing at sugar that has spilled across the table, ‘she was wearing a pair of diamond earrings that I’d bought her for our wedding day and Sadie had wanted to borrow them. Most of the time Caro was quite relaxed about lending her things to Sadie, even though half the time she wouldn’t get them back, but this time she said no, and Sadie got the hump about it.’ Rupert shrugs, and finally meets my eyes again. ‘Can you ever forgive me for not believing you? Can we get back to how things were?’

I stare at him, his deep, navy blue eyes, the way his hair falls over his forehead, the light stubble that grazes his cheeks, even though he shaved this morning. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was supposed to be his housekeeper, to come in, do what I needed to do, and go. There was never meant to be any emotional attachment. I was never meant to fall in love with him.

‘Em?’

I smile, realizing he’s still waiting for a reply. ‘Yes,’ I say, even though as I say it there is something nagging at the very recesses of my mind, that unnerving feeling that I had before that something is not quite right. ‘Of course we can. But I think it’s best if we don’t see Sadie for a little while. I just feel as though everything will be too awkward.’