April grabbed her bag and headed out of the building before she did something she might regret. She planned nothing more than a brisk lunchtime walk, but soon found herself standing in the rain outside a pub that she and Jason had frequented. His best friend Callum worked around the corner and made a pilgrimage to his favourite watering hole every Friday at one o’clock without fail, whether his friends, or his wife, chose to join him or not. It was five to one. April had put off seeing him and Bree for months. She remained convinced that neither would tell tales on Jason but still, a catch-up was well overdue.

The rain showed no mercy and Callum would have sailed straight past the woman hiding beneath her umbrella if April hadn’t grabbed his arm.

‘Hey, April,’ he said, not quick enough to hide his alarm. ‘I’ve been meaning to call. How are you?’

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘How are you?’

‘Yeah, good,’ he said. ‘Good.’ His voice trailed off. ‘So, I hear you’re back at work. How’s it going?’

‘Oh, same as usual.’

Callum looked longingly towards the pub. He wore no hood and had so far refused to take shelter under the umbrella April held out for him. ‘I should get going,’ he said. ‘Unless … Did you want to join me?’

April shook her head. The idea of going inside without Jason was too much. There she was, missing him again.

‘We haven’t been out together since, you know,’ said Callum. ‘Maybe we should …’ There was that weakening in his voice once more as he reached another dead-end in their conversation. They had always gone out as two couples. That was never going to happen again.

‘Can I ask you something, Callum?’

‘Anything.’

‘Did Jason have secrets?’

Callum wiped rain from his face. ‘What sort of secrets?’

‘The kind he wouldn’t want me to know about. Is there anything, anything at all you want to tell me?’

There was a hesitation, as if Callum were searching his memory for whatever it was that April needed. The sickly wave of disappointment hit her before he opened his mouth. He didn’t know.

‘Jay spent twice as much on his last pair of trainers than he let on, but that’s about it. What is it, April?’

She took a breath. She could share Jason’s dirty secret and destroy Callum’s faith in his friend as hers had been destroyed, but what good would that do? Callum couldn’t explain what Jason had done, or more importantly, why. And if Callum didn’t know, then neither did Bree. They were the kind of couple who told each other everything, and if Bree had picked up on something at work with Jason, Callum would be looking decidedly uncomfortable about now. He wasn’t. They couldn’t help her. ‘It’s nothing,’ she said.