Esther was never allowed to set eyes on the mobile again, and in a way it hadn’t mattered. She had seen enough. Half an hour of scrolling, hunched and weeping on the toilet seat, had drained any inclination or capacity to ‘forgive’ right out of her. Lucas had never been an easy husband; that he had been an unfaithful one too, took her to a place from where there was no retreat. The messages had been puerile, and often graphic, many wreathed in kisses, and relating to dates that went back several years; not one contained anything so incriminating as a name. The most recent – the one about missing him – was just a week old. But never replied to, Lucas had assured her during the course of his gabbling, still labouring under the delusion that any shred of ‘proof’ that his infidelities were behind him would ensure their eventual pardon. Having identified three numbers, Esther had tried calling each, but the phone battery had given out. With the dead gadget pressed against her ear, she had begun to feel numb. Their entire marriage was a lie. Almost worse was that Lucas’s deceit hadn’t made him nicer or more supportive as a husband – that for so many years he hadn’t cared enough even to put on a show of trying.

‘Come on, Lucas.’ Esther could feel the sun, hot on the back of her head, building a pressure inside. ‘Your last chance to tell me the truth. I mean, it hardly matters now, does it?’

‘Esther, you are better than this.’

‘Me, better?’ The words came out as a screech and he took a step towards her, glancing anxiously at the people milling around them. There was such alarm in his expression that a sour laugh escaped her. Lucas hated a scene, almost as much as he hated talking about his childhood or his feelings, or anything else that truly mattered.

‘Yes, I messed up,’ he hissed. ‘Big time. I admitted it often enough. Just as I tried to explain why.’ For a moment he looked as if he might be on the verge of seizing her shoulders and giving her a good shake. ‘I didn’t want to give up, Esther. You did. What’s more…’ He took a breath. ‘You have never acknowledged the part you played, how you made me feel…’

‘How I made you feel?’ Esther was laughing again, scornfully, shaking her head in disbelief.

‘Yes, Esther. You stopped caring for me. You stopped wanting me. You used the children as a shield. I was desperate. The other women – and there were only three – they meant nothing—’

‘Nothing? Really? All three? Poor them.’ Esther felt buoyant. She had him pinned, she realised. He could have walked away, but he was still here, still glaring at her. It felt like a new shift in power, towards her. ‘You were true to one thing, anyway, Lucas, I’ll give you that.’