Zia put down her credit card without tapping the numbers into the relevant boxes. ‘Is it the first time you’ve called her when she hasn’t answered? I suppose that could give you a nasty moment.’ She checked the antipathy that had crept into her voice. Until he turned on Ursula, causing her grey, woebegone moods, Zia had counted him as a friend. She thought of evenings in pubs or days sampling Brighton’s delights as part of the same group and continued more softly. ‘Stephan, you know she won’t moon around waiting for you to calm down forever, don’t you? She got in a bad situation, probably through nothing she did herself, and you’ve meted out a harsh, overlong punishment. She’s a wonderful woman and men find her attractive. Clearly, she’s going to come around to realising those things if you keep this up.’

More silence.

The credit card form on her screen timed out and she sighed. ‘Just saying.’ She refreshed the page. ‘I expect she’ll put her phone back on soon. I don’t know if I’ll see her myself this evening because I’m going out but I’ll text her and tell her you called. Bye, then—’

‘With a man?’ Stephan put in swiftly. ‘Are you going out with a man?’

The suspicion in his voice took her aback. ‘I’m not answerable to you,’ she said brusquely, annoyed she’d hesitated as if feeling guilty. She’d been single for four months.

‘No. Sorry,’ he replied. But he sounded winded. Maybe he thought that if she was dating then she might drag Ursula into a foursome. Or maybe he felt possessive on behalf of his big-buddy Brendon?

She had her answer when, not a minute after exchanging brief goodbyes, her phone rang again and this time it said Brendon on the screen.

She was completing the credit card transaction and waited for it to be accepted before she picked up with a tart, ‘If you’re ringing to get goss on Ursula for Stephan, she’s behaving impeccably.’

‘It’s not about Ursula,’ he said soberly. ‘Stephan says you have a date tonight.’

‘Yep.’ Between the two of them they’d made her too irritated to be gentle about it.

‘What kind of date?’ he asked. He sounded wounded.

Zia laid her credit card on the table, her back prickling. ‘That doesn’t concern you now.’ She tried to sound neutral but knew she hadn’t managed it.

He sighed. ‘After our last conversation I had a word with myself. I decided not to call you again till you got home but I have to say it, Zia. I truly, truly feel we can get over things if we give ourselves a chance to talk now the anger’s gone.’

Zia tipped her head back, staring at the smooth white ceiling. ‘What makes you think the anger’s gone?’