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Hannah blinked, remembering a day she’d rather forget. ‘True. It was the bedlinen that did it – I’d been buying stuff for our new place together, you know, bits and pieces. But he took one look at my matching stripy crockery and bedlinen and said it was “too much”. That I was being too clingy and boring. He was probably right; I was being full-on – setting up house like that.’

‘No!’ snapped Ellie, outraged.

Hannah wasn’t sure if that was true, but she smiled and then grumbled quietly, ‘I wouldn’t mind, but he wasn’t even that good in bed.’

Ellie roared with laughter. ‘Then he definitely wasn’t right for you!’

Hannah made a huffing sound of agreement and took another slurp of her iced coffee; it tasted a bit better this time and was easier to swallow.

‘How’s your roomie in bed?’ asked Ellie casually, and it was Hannah’s turn to splutter on her drink. She’d not mentioned her fling with Caleb, but it was clear Ellie already knew.

‘How did you know?’

‘Well, I wasn’t sure, but now I know!’ gasped Ellie, leaning forward.

‘Damn, you’re good!’ Hannah shook her head in awe.

‘I know. Well?’ asked Ellie with an irritatingly smug sip of her black cat mug. ‘Tell me everything.’

‘Spectacular. No notes.’ She slurped her coffee loudly, a little sad it was more ice than drink. But even the smallest size had cost her a fortune and beggars couldn’t be choosers – and didn’t she know it! She’d taken every scrap of pleasure that Caleb had offered her.

Ellie chuckled. ‘Caleb Townsend, who’d have thought it? School-girl fantasy come to life. God, you were obsessed with him.’

Hannah frowned. ‘I wasn’t that obsessed. I mean he’s not even that hot.’

Ellie cackled. ‘You used to write Hannah Townsend over and over in all your books!’

Hannah lowered her sunglasses and gave her a hard stare. ‘That was a long time ago, and he’s not the marrying kind.’ He’s made that very clear.

‘He might change his mind. Especially after a few nights in the rainforest with you. You could roleplay Tarzan and Jane – I can imagine him swinging you from the trees.’

‘Oh please!’

‘Well, you never know. Things could turn serious, and in the past, you two—’

Hannah interrupted sharply. ‘Like I said, he’s not the serious type, and the only past we had together was when I failed an exam because of him—’

‘You failed an exam?’ asked a deep voice from the doorway, and Hannah almost fell off her chair when she realised Caleb was stood at the open door of the balcony behind her.

‘Oh shit!’ exclaimed Ellie from the laptop, probably as spooked by his arrival as Hannah was. ‘Oh erm… Sorry, Hannah, I’ve got to go! Someone’s at the door!’

‘It’s eleven p.m. in London!’ Hannah cried, already knowing that nothing was going to stop her friend from leaving her in the lurch.

Ellie flapped wildly. ‘Maybe Alex forgot his key? Hey, nice seeing you, Caleb!’

Caleb raised a hand, but Ellie was already ending the call, and the screen went blank.

‘What do you mean you failed an exam because of me?’

Hannah wasn’t sure how she was going to explain herself without sounding like the most pathetic loser. ‘You didn’t come to your maths exam.’

‘I know. I told you. I flew out that day. But why would that affect your exam?’

She squirmed beneath his gaze and busied herself closing her laptop. ‘I was worried.’

‘And that made you fail?’

‘I thought there was time. I went out to find you. I thought maybe you’d come off your bike or something on the way. I was worried.’