Glancing at Nick, Tara’s cheeriness was forced when she asked, ‘Did you have a good holiday?’

‘Vegas was amazing,’ he said. ‘But a word of warning, don’t play cards with this one. She has a lethal poker face.’

Justine turned to Tara. ‘Why don’t you catch up with Faith out the back while I talk to Nick?’

Before she could respond, Faith stole Tara’s place at the table opposite Justine, and Nick slotted in beside her. ‘No, let’s all have a catch-up here,’ she said. ‘What’s this about? Have we broken one of your golden rules, Justine?’

‘No,’ she said, bristling.

Tara slumped into the remaining seat next to Justine. ‘OK, let’s get started,’ she said, only to pause. She fiddled with the phone she had placed on the table, seemingly unsure how to proceed. ‘There’s no easy way to do this.’

‘There are questions we need answering if you’re to remain in the group, Nick,’ Justine interjected. ‘It’s about your past.’

Faith sniffed. ‘And what does his past have to do with you?’

‘It’s rather the point of the group, wouldn’t you say?’ retorted Justine.

‘Please, Faith,’ said Tara.

Faith pressed her back against the padded backrest and folded her arms. She didn’t like that Tara had picked a side and it wasn’t hers.

‘What do you want to know?’ Nick asked, his eye twitching.

Tara turned her phone and nudged it towards him. ‘Is this Erin?’

After glancing down briefly, he released a sigh. ‘Yes.’

The glimpse of Erin’s smiling face as Nick slid the phone back to Tara was an image Faith had seen before. When he had mentioned not being at his girlfriend’s deathbed, Faith had recognised a half-truth. She had unearthed Erin’s fundraising page too, and had asked the same question Justine asked now.

‘Did you even know this woman?’

Faith was about to respond, but Nick held up his hand. It was for him to explain and, begrudgingly, Faith accepted that Tara and Justine were right to expect an answer.

‘Yes, of course I knew her,’ Nick said. ‘She was the love of my life.’

‘According to this website, she married the love of her life. It wasn’t you,’ said Tara, surprisingly kindly, although it wouldn’t be Nick’s feelings she was trying to protect but Faith’s.

‘Erin and I had … a complicated relationship,’ he began. ‘Yes, she was married to someone else, but that doesn’t take away how we felt about each other. I wasn’t her husband, but I loved her to the very end, and she loved me.’

‘So you were having an affair?’

Nick cast his eyes down. ‘Yes.’

Tara looked to Faith, as shocked by her friend’s lack of reaction as she was by Nick’s answer.