‘Faith brought conflict to the group long before Nick walked through the door,’ continued Justine. ‘I doubt you noticed because Faith’s passive aggression was an art form and it was never directed at you. She picked on me for some reason.’

Forced to consider Faith’s behaviour from Justine’s perspective, Tara was shocked by what she saw. She took a breath but couldn’t quite fill her lungs. ‘You’re not suggesting … Do you think she’s homophobic? Because I swear, I never picked up on anything like that. I would have done something if I had.’

‘It wouldn’t be the first time I’d faced that kind of prejudice, but no, I don’t think her dislike of me has anything to do with my sexuality,’ she replied, but her posture remained tense. ‘Faith’s bullying is indiscriminate. She has her favoured few and it’s tough luck if you’re not one of them. The worst thing for me was, I didn’t always recognise when I was under attack. She’d make the odd comment about my abilities and wrap it up as concern, but suddenly everyone was believing her version of who I was, including me for a while. It’s so much easier to pick someone off when they’ve become isolated.’

Tara winced. ‘God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise that was how you felt.’

‘No, Tara, you didn’t care how I felt.’

‘I am sorry,’ Tara repeated. Her cheeks blazed with shame as she thought back to all the times she and Faith had laughed behind Justine’s back. She would reprimand Faith from time to time by telling her that Justine was her friend, but Tara hadn’t acted like her friend. ‘You were the first person I opened up to about Mike and I’d be lost without you. You deserved better from me.’

Justine uncrossed her arms and let her hands drop onto her lap. ‘I’ll forgive you, if you’ll forgive me.’

A shared smile eased the tension, but it didn’t disappear entirely. ‘What do I have to forgive you for?’

‘The Twitter storm I created.’

‘It was natural that you’d want to defend us from attack,’ Tara replied. It wasn’t how she would have responded, but that was because she wasn’t as invested in the group as Justine. It was a sobering thought, but not an issue she needed to tackle today. ‘My main concern is that Erin’s husband seems to have a problem with us – assuming I’m right and he is the one who’s been replying to your tweets.’

Justine dipped a spoon into her coffee, cutting into the foam. ‘And that’s the other reason I need to apologise,’ she confessed. ‘For a split second there, I wasn’t going to tell you what I came here to say.’

‘Which is?’

‘Josh Peters sent me a direct message yesterday.’