Becky appears from the garden with a piece of leaf caught in her hair. And she’s standing between the back door and the kitchen. ‘Ah,’ she says. ‘I wondered when you two were going to get back.’

And then there’s a rustle as someone moves one of the vines out of the way and a shape – silhouetted against the sunlight so it takes a moment for me to recognise it – stands for a moment in the doorway.

‘I told you he wouldn’t be long,’ says Emma, in an artificially cheerful voice.

‘Hello, Alex,’ says Alice.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Jess

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jess

8th June

So this is a bit awkward. I flick a glance in Becky’s direction and she manages to articulate, with widened eyes, a vague gesture with her hands, and a flare of her nostrils that no, she doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, either.

I watch Alex, trying to look as if I’m not watching him. He steps across the kitchen and puts a hand to Alice’s waist, kissing her warmly on the cheek. Emma lifts an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

‘Jess, this is Alice,’ says Alex.

And I reach out a hand – why on earth do I do that? It seems weirdly formal, but I don’t know her well enough to kiss her and it feels like I have to do something. Alice takes it and we shake in greeting. Alex gives me an odd, sideways look.

‘Very nice to meet you, Alice,’ I say. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you,’ I add. Becky, standing behind her, widens her eyes at that and gives me A Look.

‘You have?’ Alice tilts her head slightly, smiling. ‘I hope it’s not all bad.’

‘Gosh, no,’ I say, aware I’m digging myself into a hole. ‘All very good in fact. Lovely.’

Becky’s nostrils flare.

‘Why don’t I go to the shop and get some Pimm’s? I was just saying it’s the sort of afternoon you should be drinking Pimm’s.’

I turn around and head for the door.

‘I’ll come with you,’ says Becky, hotfooting it out of the kitchen.

‘What the hell?’ I say when we get outside.

‘I have no idea. Literally none,’ Becky replies. ‘Has she come back to say she’s made a terrible mistake and she wants him back?’

I almost say ‘Bloody hell, I hope not’, but manage to turn it into a cough and then a much more appropriate: ‘Maybe she thought she should pay her respects, or something?’

‘To their non-marriage?’ Becky snorts with laughter again.

‘I don’t know. What kind of weirdo turns up on their not-wedding day and randomly appears from the garden in the middle of our Keep Alex’s Mind Off Things mission? Is this the sort of thing she always does?’