‘Who did this?’ Norah asked.

Max smiled and pointed at Paul, who was coming into the room carrying two steaming bowls.

The Thai food, beautifully served on elegant white china, smelt so deliciously of chilli and coriander and beef and coconut and lemongrass that Norah felt properly hungry for the first time in weeks. Max and Paul had rung her to apologise for not having been in touch earlier and then asked her to dinner that evening.

Norah fell on her food. ‘I thought the papaya salad was good,’ she said, ‘but this beef is out of this world. How did you make it?’

Paul grinned.

‘Nine two four nine, three eight zero eight,’ he said.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘That’s the delivery service number.’

Norah laughed.

‘How are things going at the magazine?’ Max asked.

‘Good.’

‘Good. Is that all? You must have something to tell us. No psychopathic boss, no scheming rival, no good-looking colleague, no hot gossip?’

‘Nope, sorry.’

‘Ah well,’ said Paul. ‘Here’s to your new job.’

He raised his beer.

‘Cheers,’ said Max.

‘Cheers.’

They clinked bottles.

When they’d finished eating—Norah had put away more than Max and Paul together—Max opened one of the big living-room windows and lit a cigarette.

Norah breathed in the cold air with relish.

‘You don’t smoke anymore,’ Max said—a regretful observation, rather than a question.

‘Yes, I do. I’ve started again.’

Max raised his eyebrows.

‘Well, in that case…’ he said, handing her a cigarette.

When Norah looked up from lighting it, she saw Max and Paul exchange glances.

‘It’s getting too big,’ said Max.

‘What?’

‘The elephant in the room.’

Norah sighed.

‘We only want to know if you’re okay,’ said Paul. ‘You and Alex were together for such a long time. It was so sudden.’

‘I’m okay,’ said Norah.

‘Did anything happen? Did Alex do something?’ Paul asked. ‘We don’t want to be nosey—we just want to know if we ought to hate Alex.’

He scratched his dark beard thoughtfully.

‘You know we like Alex; we liked him right from the start. But we like you more.’

‘No,’ Norah said. ‘Alex didn’t do anything bad.’

‘Okay,’ Paul began, ‘but—’

Norah interrupted him. ‘He proposed to me,’ she said. ‘Or rather, he was planning to.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I found the ring.’

Max and Paul looked blankly at Norah.

‘He did what?’ Paul asked, eventually, with feigned indignation. ‘He bought you a ring? That’s unbelievable. How dare he? No wonder you cleared out at the first opportunity.’

‘Too right,’ said Max. ‘Any woman with a smidgen of self-respect would have done the same.’

‘Are you taking the piss?’ Norah asked, but she grinned in spite of herself.

Max looked at her thoughtfully.

‘I’m sure you had your reasons,’ he said in the end, and Norah nodded, grateful that the interrogation was over.

‘I’m going to powder my nose,’ said Paul, vanishing into the hall.

For a while, Norah and Max drank together in comfortable silence.

‘Oh, shit,’ Norah suddenly said.