‘Hey.’ Marcus appeared behind me with the ubiquitous bottle of wine. ‘Celebratory glass for the Queen Bee?’

‘Me?’ Worker bee, I thought vaguely. ‘No, thanks.’ I couldn’t meet his eye. ‘I’m going to head off now.’

A skinny lass did a cartwheel on the lawn, legs like ghost trails in the dark.

‘Oh, Mu-um!’ Zach lolloped up now, pulling a face. ‘It’s just getting good.’

‘Sorry, matey, but I’m absolutely knackered.’

‘But we’re gonna go in the hot tub, and then watch a film in a bit. They’ve got an actual cinema room.’

‘We do, yes.’ Marcus grinned. ‘Call me extravagant.’

Call you rich, I didn’t say.

‘Can you do it again? I mean, another time.’ I sighed. ‘Sorry, Zach, but I’m just so tired.’

‘Mu-uuum.’ He did his big-eye-sorrowful look. ‘It’s Avengers: Endgame!’

I gazed back at my little boy’s eager face.

It was so nice to see him having fun; I spent my life worrying he didn’t have enough fun since…

‘Look, why don’t you go home if you’re tired, Ruby?’ Marcus suggested mildly. ‘He can stay.’

I felt it like a body blow. ‘Oh. Well.’

‘I’ll send him back after the film. You’re only round the corner, aren’t you?’

‘True.’ I couldn’t bear to meet Marcus’s gaze still. ‘Well—’

‘Yeah, don’t stress, hon.’ Melissa had materialised under the fairy lights, chewing gum and drinking something very pink in a martini glass. She put her arm round me. ‘I’ll be here for a bit, and Ceci’s staying. He can walk back with us – or her, if I’ve gone.’

I capitulated more quickly than I might have done if I hadn’t still been stinging from Marcus’s rejection. ‘OK.’ It seemed simpler than fighting them all and, rationally, I knew I was being overprotective. Zach had to have more independence some time.

But mostly, I was just desperate to get away from Marcus’s gaze and from Willow’s, if she returned. ‘I’ll just fetch my biscuit tins.’

Inside, I crossed the kitchen and opened the door to the walk-in larder and found – oh God.

Two people – entwined. They froze in the half-light.

‘So sorry,’ I stammered, starting to retreat.

Not two people, I realised, but two women, wrapped around each other, one with her hand up the other’s top.

Blimey. It was the waitress, Dores, from the Portuguese place, the one I’d seen trying to hit Marcus at that awful supper, and—

Meeting Lena’s eyes over Dores’s shoulder, I backed out quickly.

‘Please,’ Lena started urgently, and I said, ‘It’s fine, honestly, I didn’t see anything.’

Shoving the boxes into my bag, I closed the door behind me quietly and started to laugh. Hysterically, almost.

It was the last time I’d laugh for a long time.

Melissa kissed me goodbye and said she’d ring me tomorrow.

‘Don’t be too late, Zachy,’ I called, and she patted me and said, ‘Don’t worry, hon – he’ll be fine.’

Walking to the door, I forgot my recent embarrassment as Lena crossed the hall, small son’s hand safely in hers and, remembering what I’d just seen, I grinned.