I unpacked the dishwasher, made my cup of tea and decided to take it back up to bed. As I walked past Giles, Anthony, who had now given up bouncing and was instead sitting quietly under his master’s stool, looked up at me mournfully. I bent down, patted his head and then continued towards the door.

‘I’m sorry, Edie,’ said Giles quietly.

I turned towards him. ‘For upsetting Kerry?’ I asked, without pause for thought.

‘What?’ He turned sharply. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, you weren’t very polite to her when you got home last night.’

‘I was impolite?’ he said, looking so stricken that I began to regret my bluntness – but there was no going back now.

‘When you came into the living room, you looked at Kerry as if… well, as if you were embarrassed of her.’

‘I did?’ He both looked and sounded horrified. ‘Is that what Kerry thought?’

‘You know what she’s like. She made light of it but yes, Giles, that’s what she thought. Of course I told her that you weren’t, but I saw it too. You didn’t look at all pleased to see her. And then you so obviously didn’t want to introduce us to Melissa.’

He tilted his face upwards and closed his eyes. ‘I see.’

‘It just wasn’t like you.’

‘No.’

‘So what’s going on?’

He lowered his head, opened his eyes and dropped his half-eaten croissant into his empty cereal bowl. ‘I like Melissa very much, but we’re not going to see each other again.’

‘Really?’ I walked back to the breakfast bar, pulled out a stool and sat back down next to him.

‘She didn’t stay last night. In fact, she left before Kerry did and we then spoke at length on the phone.’

‘Oh and what have you…’ I stopped mid-sentence, reminding myself that I had no experience of Giles’s preferred handling of personal relationships. Just because I had chosen to share all the gory Jason-details with him did not mean that he had an urge to reciprocate. ‘OK.’

‘I hate the thought of upsetting Kerry,’ he said, his eyes fixed on the remains of his croissant.

‘It’ll be fine,’ I said, waving a hand, sad to see him troubled, but also relieved and reassured by his concern. ‘You know how laid-back she is. The next time you see her, you can explain that things weren’t quite working out with Melissa and that’s why you didn’t rush to introduce her. In fact,’ I added, ‘I bet Nicky will tell her about Melissa, and then Kerry will work out for herself that your awkwardness was nothing at all to do with her.’

Giles continued to stare unblinkingly at his bowl. ‘But it was to do with her,’ he said quietly. ‘It was everything to do with her. Clearly I’m now completely incapable of hiding my feelings.’