Her phone rang in the dark and she jumped. ‘Jesus! You scared me!’ she cried out.

‘That was my intention,’ Bella responded. ‘To scare you from afar and not to see how you are doing?’

‘Oh, Bells!’ Merrin sighed and again flopped forward. ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe it!’

‘What’s the matter? And where are you? It sounds like you’re in a loo?’

‘No, not a loo. I’ve shut myself in a cupboard in the dark.’

‘Ok-aay. And can I ask why? Are the police after you? Do you need the police? Give me the code word and I’ll leap into action.’

‘Do we have a code word?’ She tried to remember.

‘No, but we definitely should for situations like this. I’ll give it some thought. Anyhoo, more to the point, why are you in a cupboard in the dark?’

‘You’re not going to believe it.’ Her breath came in short bursts.

‘Try me.’

‘He’s here . . . he . . . he just walked in.’ She hated the tremor to her voice. ‘I was on reception and his wife came in, really pretty, wearing decent clothes and holding one of those bags that Victoria Beckham has, and her hair was all, you know, neat and shiny. I was looking at her and thinking how good she looked and how nice she seemed and he just . . . he just walked in behind her.’ She let out a deep breath.

‘Merry, I need you to go back a few paces. Who walked in? I don’t know what’s going on.’

‘You don’t know what’s going on? I don’t know what’s going on!’ She raised her voice. ‘Digby! Digby is here!’

She heard Bella gasp. ‘Digby Mortimer?’

‘Yes! How many bloody Digbys do we know?’

‘Oh, my God!’ Bella screamed.

‘Exactly. I don’t know what to do! I can’t hide in here until they leave!’

‘How long are they staying?’

‘Two days.’

‘No, you definitely can’t. Although I could send snacks and a Portaloo.’

‘It’s not funny, Bella!’ Merrin felt like crying, her distress gathered in her throat like a physical blockage. ‘I haven’t seen him since . . . since . . . and I thought I was going to faint or throw up. It’s like it happened yesterday – just the sight of him’s enough to take me right back to that moment when Reverend Pimm came and got me and everything unravelled . . .’

‘Right, Merrin’ – Bella spoke with force – ‘you listen to me. That was a lifetime ago. You are a grown-ass woman with a lovely life; a lovely future ahead of you and a lovely Miguel. And Digby is a shit. He was a shit then and he will be a shit now. He did you a favour. You might have been saddled for life with him and that would have been so miserable.’

She swallowed the thought that Mrs Mortimer hadn’t looked miserable – quite the opposite.