“Matt has a friend over. A girl,” she said casually.

“Oh?”

“Yes, do you know her? Diana somebody or other. I think she went to Seahaven.”

His eyes darted towards her. “Diana? I… er… maybe, er, yes, she was in one of my classes a couple of years back.”

“Oh, right. Is she nice?”

“Um, I guess.” He was fussing with the cushions on the couch, pulling tiny white Clive hairs from the fabric. He reached up to pull at the collar of his shirt.

“Are you ok?” Helen asked.

“Yes, yes, just tired and need to get out of this tie. Um, is she staying for dinner?”

Helen hesitated. “I don’t know actually. I’ll ask her.”

“No, no, no need. I’m sure she has plans to eat at home.”

“No, it would be polite to ask.”

“True, true, the more the merrier and all that.” He coughed. “I’ll, er, freshen up.”

He disappeared upstairs.

The thud of overlapping music was coming from the bedrooms on the second floor. Each one of them was playing a different soundtrack through closed doors. Helen approached Matt’s door, feeling weirdly uncomfortable. She could hear very little through the wood other than the bass beat of a song she wasn’t expecting to know. She raised her hand, ready to knock, then wondered if she should just burst in.

What were they doing in there? Did she really want to see? Oh god, what if they were having sex?

She reached for the handle just as Lydia emerged from her own bedroom down the hall, wrapped in a bathrobe, puffs of steam wafting through the open doorway from her bathroom. Her hair was wrapped in a towel. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Helen.

“What are you doing?”

“I… er… was going to ask Diana if she wants to stay for dinner.”

“Oh, right,” she said, then disappeared back into her room.

Helen frowned, then knocked loudly on Matt’s door and turned the handle simultaneously.

Matt and Diana were sitting on his double bed, the bag of crisps spilling onto the duvet and a magazine open in front of them. They were the picture of innocence and Helen felt strangely disappointed. Diana looked at her with big eyes, a small smile on her lips.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if Diana will be staying for dinner?”

“Yes, thank you, I’d like that,” Diana said without hesitation or even looking at Matt to see if he agreed.

The look on his face was one of surprise, followed quickly by delight, before settling back into his usual expressionless mask.

“Great, I’ll set an extra place at the table. It’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes.”