‘Oh, my God,’ said Tara. ‘I’ve heard that story a million times but it never crossed my mind that he wasn’t divorced when you met. Why didn’t I ever think of that?’

Faith gave April a withering look, but she was smiling when she said, ‘Because you’re not a cynic like our friend here. I’ll have to be more careful around you, April.’

‘You met on a cruise. Does that mean he was with his wife back then?’ asked Tara, needing to hear the unabridged version of Faith’s love story.

‘My holiday romances are only ever with men who are unattached, or at least ones who claim to be unattached. Either way, when the holiday is over, that’s the end of it – normally. My dalliance with Derek was different,’ Faith said. ‘I’d met him on the coach transfer to Portsmouth, so I knew he was married and turned down his advances throughout the holiday. When we arrived back in Liverpool, he and his wife insisted we share a taxi. That’s how he tracked me down later, and the rest is history.’

‘He did all of that under his wife’s nose?’ Tara asked. She had imagined Derek as the perfect gentleman, but she was seeing him in a different light.

‘When I said that we didn’t start dating until after he was divorced, that was true. We did not have an affair,’ Faith insisted. ‘Derek wasn’t a philanderer. He told me he didn’t expect his marriage to last the year, and he asked me to wait.’

‘At least he was open with you,’ April said. ‘It’s a shame you can’t say the same about Nick.’

‘April’s right,’ Tara said before Faith could come back with her rebuttal. ‘I’m not saying Nick isn’t making you happy …’

‘But?’

Tara smiled at her friend. ‘Do I need to point it out?’ she asked, taking a long swig of wine before adding, ‘The fact that you’ve looked into his past means you know you should be cautious. The only thing we can be absolutely sure of, apart from the fact that Nick makes great lasagne, is that he knows how to deceive. Are you sure it’s you he’s interested in, or is it this?’ She waved a hand around the kitchen and tipped her head to the rest of the house.

‘It’s not like that. And in case you’ve been wondering, he paid for the holiday, not me.’

‘All of it?’ asked April.

‘For the sake of my own conscience, I found his bank details and transferred what was a small contribution to the cost, but Nick sent it straight back.’

‘By sneaking a look at your bank details in return?’ April said.

Tara wanted to pat April on the back. Her friend was much better at this than Tara would be, even if she were sober. Faith was less impressed.