‘Jesus, you’re not very nice after a day at the coalface. I think I’ll insist that Verity gives up work when we get married if she’s anything like you. Don’t want to come home to a row every night.’

‘Does this mean you’ve decided?’

‘Decided what?’

‘If you think Verity is sticking around, I assume you’re going to tell Zadie’s parents what you did.’

Max laughed. ‘No, no, I don’t think I’m going to do that.’

‘So what, then? You want me to tell everyone what happened? You want to lose your job and your friends and everything else you have?’

‘No, that’s not it either. I’d very much like to keep those things.’

Max was talking infuriatingly slowly. Every time she asked him a question, hushed in case one of the neighbours might overhear, he would lean back and stretch. Take a long drink from his glass.

‘I gave you twenty-four hours to decide and it’s almost up. If you don’t tell them by tomorrow, I’m going ahead.’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’

Chloe tried to adopt an expression of amused indifference, but Max was so calm. So confident. She couldn’t manage it.

‘What are you playing at?’ she asked. Her voice came out higher than she wanted it to.

‘I’m not going to tell the Listers anything. And you’re not going to make any accusations. You’re not going to talk to Verity, until you see her at our wedding, at which point you’re going to limit yourself to “Congratulations” and “You look beautiful.”’

‘Why would I do that?’

‘Because you no longer have any evidence that we slept together.’

Chloe ran inside for her bag, heart pounding as she scrabbled in it for her phone. Nothing. She took it back to the garden, brandishing it at Max. ‘How did you get my phone?’

‘I didn’t. Rav did. I imagine he’s resetting it right now, just as soon as he wipes any back-ups from your laptop.’

Chloe tried to form words but couldn’t. She stumbled backwards and let the garden wall take her weight.

Rav was the most honest person she knew, the most trusting. He knew all her passwords and pin codes yet never showed even the slightest hint of wanting to use them. He trusted her entirely. She trusted him. Always had. What could Max have over him? Surely this couldn’t be about Rav wanting to be his friend? He couldn’t want to be Max’s friend more than he wanted to be her husband? ‘I can still tell people. Even without the pictures, even without the video.’

‘You could,’ said Max, recrossing one leg over the other. ‘But I have the video you made. Which I think you’ll remember showed some rather enthusiastic consent. You probably should have been clearer on the plan before you filmed us.’