‘I believed her – she had no reason to lie. And it all makes sense, knowing what was happening at the time with this girl he used to work with. But I feel so gullible. And I keep going over and over it in my head. It’s awful.’

‘Well, I think it highly unlikely that Jack’s being unfaithful to you now. Anyone can see how devoted he is to you and Elodie. I have a nose for these things.’

‘Yes, but how can you know for sure? How can I know – if someone does a thing like that once, surely they’re capable of doing it again?’

Mrs Barley put down her watering can and approached the fence. ‘Listen, now. I’m very attuned to people’s feelings and atmospheres. If Jack was doing anything … untoward … I’m sure I’d have picked up on it. So you can rest assured he isn’t.’ She reached across to me. ‘Here, take my hand a minute.’

Hesitantly I accepted her gloved palm. She held my own hand for a moment, then gave me a strange look.

‘I think that maybe your concerns about Jack are more rooted in your fears about yourself. You’ve a lot of self-doubt, haven’t you? But he loves you very deeply, Stina. And what’s past is past. Don’t let it ruin your future. Life is too short.’

I withdrew my hand and stared at her. I felt suddenly uneasy. ‘How can you possibly know – that I doubt myself?’

‘Oh, it’s obvious, isn’t it – you’ve had a baby not so long ago; you’re still hormonal,’ she said, avoiding my eyes. ‘Jack’s a good man. Trust in him and everything will be fine. And don’t confront him. It could do more harm than good. Least said, soonest mended – that’s what I’ve always believed.’

I felt oddly reassured by this. But it was what she said as I turned to go back into the house that sent a chill through me.

‘Everyone has their secrets, Stina. After all, there are probably things about you that you’d prefer your husband never learned, too.’

I kept turning her words over in my mind for the rest of the day. It wasn’t so much what she’d said, more her intonation. Full of weight; full of inference. Somehow Jack’s blip didn’t seem so significant any more. Maybe that had been her intention: to shift my focus. If so, she had succeeded.