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‘Hello?’ barked Carla, just as I was about to hang up and fling my phone into a bush, a prime example of what beingin close proximity to Theo Winters could do to me. ‘Is that you, Scarlett?’

‘Yes,’ I said, sounding more measured than I felt. ‘It’s me, calling you from Cannes. I’ve . . . we’ve just arrived.’

‘Good, good. So is it gorgeous there, or what? Didn’t I tell you that the change of scenery was exactly what you needed!’

Fucking hardly.

‘There’s a bit of a problem, actually,’ I told her, bracing myself. She was amazing at the business side of things but I didn’t find it particularly easy to talk to her about my personal life. Which was why I’d never told her what had happened between Theo and me, despite her having tried to drag it out of me on several occasions. And because she didn’t know, it would be difficult for her to understand the gravitas of just how awkward this all was, and I wasn’t about to get into it now because . . . well, he could probably hear me for one thing.

‘Oh yes?’ she said.

I could hear the clinking of glasses, some schmoozy chatter. She was at a book event, I could tell, and therefore I imagined her with a glass of champagne in one hand and only one ear tuned in to what I was saying.

‘You’ve accidentally booked us on a couples retreat,’ I said, trying to keep the judgement out of my voice, even though I really wanted to yell:How could you???!!‘Run by some kind of world-famous psychotherapist, apparently. The writers’ retreat is next month.’

Carla was uncharacteristically silent for a moment or two. ‘Well, that’s unfortunate,’ she said eventually.

‘To put it mildly. And now they’re saying that if we want to stay here and not do the retreat we’d have to pay another twelve hundred euros. Or we can find a different hotel butthey wouldn’t be able to refund the money you’ve already paid.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Carla. ‘Well obviously I can’t cover any of that, Scarlett. I don’t do this sort of thing for my other clients, you understand.’

I glanced nervously around at Theo, who was looking expectantly at me through the glass. He was going to kick off, big time if I didn’t return with positive news.

‘So what do you suggest, then?’ I asked her, the last vestiges of optimism draining out of me. Obviously I couldn’t expect her to cover those extra booking charges, but I couldn’t cover them myself either, and it didn’t seem like Theo was willing to. But there had to be something we could do. Please let Carla have some grand plan to get us the hell out of here, I thought. She was an excellent trouble-shooter, it was part of her job; surely she could think of something?

‘Look. You and Theo were friends before, am I right?’ said Carla.

I didn’t like where this was going, not one bit. ‘Briefly.’

‘And you wrote well together. Brilliantly, in fact. Six weeks on theNew York Timesbestseller-list brilliant. Bidding war for movie rights brilliant.’

I shrugged, even though shrugs didn’t transmit over phone lines.

‘I know you’ve already agreed to try writing together again, but would it also be worth trying to rekindle the friendship, do you think? And could you – and hear me out with this one, Scarlett, because I can hear you huffing and puffing from here––’

I promptly huffed again because I couldn’t help myself. There seemed to be no other way to express how I felt about the idea of being friends with Theo again. I had enough on my plate making sure my family were fully functioningwithout entertaining a friendship that was doomed from the start.

‘I’m listening,’ I said through gritted teeth.

‘You mentioned there will be a therapist at this retreat, yes? What if a bit of therapy together might help you have an actual conversation with Theo about what happened before? What if the issue could be resolved? What if hearing one another’s point of view, in a sort of controlled way, with a professional guiding you, actually helped sort out whatever went wrong between you in the first place?’

‘That’s impossible. The damage is done now.’

I knew I sounded belligerent, but honestly, Carla had no idea how hard it was for me to even be here. I’d spent the last six years trying not to think about the past and the last thing I wanted to do was rehash it now, especially in front of Theo!

‘Think about it,’ said Carla, using the slightly controlling fake-sympathetic tone I’d heard her deploy whenever she wanted to persuade someone to do something they clearly didn’t want to do. ‘You need this book to be a hit. And the writing process would be so much easier if you could just get along.’

‘But––’

‘Now, I really must go. You two might be my favourite clients, but alas, you’re not my only ones. Let me know what you decide, yes?’

And with that she was gone. Back to the familiar territory of another bookish event where all she had to do was schmooze with a few publishing folk and drink warm white wine. I, on the other hand, now had to work out how the hell I was going to tell Theo that we were essentially stuck here.

I took a deep breath, pushed open the door to the reception area and steeled myself.Theo looked at me like an eager puppy. ‘What did she say?’

I took a deep breath, silently cursing Carla for leaving me to explain. I was just going to have to tell him straight.

‘She’s not prepared to pay extra for us to stay here.’