She picked up her mobile and hesitated. To want – so badly – to talk to Lucas was odd. She didn’t quite trust it. She began to key in the number, manually, so as to give herself time to think, and then stopped as a new notification arrived.

Thx for the great visit. M

Esther tapped back quickly.

Yes, thx, it was fun. In other news: found D’s passport so he can’t be abroad and ‘Sheena’ is expecting. Babies everywhere. Happy filming. E

Esther returned to the phone’s keypad, but the moment had passed. She turned off the lights and took her holdall upstairs instead, resolving to bring both Lucas and Lily up to speed the next day.

39

Lucas wondered how long he had been sitting on his sofa. He was still in his running gear: an old tracksuit top and the black Lycra leggings Heidi had given him the previous year, before their relationship was common knowledge. His feet were encased in new trainers, bought for a mind-blowing sum of money from a sports shop recommended by his physiotherapist. The shoes were exactly the sort of show-off gear he had vowed never to own, and so curiously light that, answering the door to Heidi that afternoon, he had found himself almost tripping over his own feet.

‘You could have used your key,’ he had said, the annoyance of the stumble still with him as she’d stepped inside.

‘Hello to you too, Lucas.’ Her face had been pink and moist from her own run, but instead of doing her usual thing of bouncing from foot to foot – the cool-down that only stopped after she had stretched out properly – she had closed the door and remained beside it, standing very still and straight. ‘So now you are going out to exercise?’

‘Later, I thought. Just decided to get ready. Did you get my post?’

Instead of answering, she tore the rucksack off her arms and thrust it at him. ‘Yes, Lucas, I got your post. It is in there.’

‘Heidi, darling, what on earth is the matter?’

She pushed past him, and marched to the far end of the sitting room, where she spun round, planting her legs and folding her arms in the manner of one preparing for combat. ‘I went into the chapel.’

‘Oh, good. I—’

‘I spoke to the Chaplain.’

‘Claire? Excellent. She—’

‘So, do you not even believe in the possibility of a deity, Lucas?’