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His dark expression said it all. ‘Right.’

‘Or for us to move hotels.’

He raised his eyebrows, seemingly speechless.

‘She thinks it might do us good to have some therapy to see if we can rebuild our . . . friendship.’

Theo shook his head, as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘She said what?’

‘Do you really want me to repeat it?’ I said, irritated. He should have called her himself if he wanted all the details.

‘Madame, what did you decide?’ asked the manager, looking as though he wanted this situation to be resolved as quickly as we did. We were probably ruining the chilled mojo of his hotel foyer with our bad vibes and our pacing around and our weird non-relationship that he probably couldn’t work out for the life of him.

‘I think we’ll . . . well, I can only speak for myself,’ I said, glancing nervously at Theo and wondering why I kept referring to us as a ‘we’ as if we were in this together when we clearly weren’t. ‘If there’s no way you’re prepared to waive the fee for us to stay here and not do the retreat, then I think we’re going to have to stay and . . . take part.’

I winced. Theo stiffened next to me.

‘Très bien,’ said the manager, palpably relieved. He plucked a key from a hook behind him before we could change our minds and shot round to the front of the desk. ‘Follow me,’ he said.

I stalked off after him, looking over my shoulder at Theo,whose jaw was clenched tight. If he could have shot flaming arrows through his eyes at me, he totally would have done.

‘I’ll wait here,’ he mumbled, more to himself than anything.

‘No, no. Come,Monsieur!’ said the manager, strutting off.

Oh God. I bet our rooms were opposite each other or something. It was a small boutique hotel and I suddenly longed for one of those huge, characterless Ramadas, where I could be housed in a completely different wing of the building and never have to see him. Mind you, there was still the small matter of the therapy business, but we could cross that bridge when we came to it. They couldn’t force us to join in, could they?

As I trailed up the wooden stairs behind the manager who was picking up speed as though he couldn’t wait to get us checked in and out of his sight, I thought how charming the place was with its pictures of film stars enjoying the French Riviera flanking the walls and the shabby chic lampshades above our heads. If it wasn’t for the retreat thing, or for Theo being here, simmering away behind me like a frustrated Hulk, this could actually be a delightful place to write.

We reached the second floor and the manager stopped outside door number twelve. He unlocked it and ushered me inside.

‘Madame,Monsieur, your room.’

I followed him inside, not catching what he’d said at first, until Theo piped up.

‘This isn’t for both of us, I hope?’ he said.

I laughed nervously. No. Definitely not. That couldn’t have been what he’d meant?

‘Yes, which one of us is staying here?’ I asked brightly.

It would all be cleared up in a second. Theo’s room wouldbe across the hall or something. But to my horror, the manager looked panicked again.

‘Madame,Monsieur, you only have one room booked. You do not wish to stay together?’

‘No we do not!’ I said, horrified.

A king-sized bed with plump pillows and a lilac satin bedspread on it sat in the centre of the room and I was transported straight back to six years ago, to another bedroom and a morning I badly wanted to forget. Now all I could picture were Theo’s high-thread-count sheets all tangled up on the floor; my black, lace bra flung over the back of his desk chair; his muscular, naked thighs wrapped around mine. I shook the deeply uncomfortable memory from my mind’s eye.

‘Tell me you have another room free?’ I said to the manager, still flustered and dispensing with basic courtesy. If it came to it I’d have to fork out the money for another hotel myself, although that would mean eating into the miniscule amount of savings I had left and which I’d earmarked for family emergencies only. It wasn’t like they weren’t a regular occurrence.

‘I am very sorry,Madame, but the hotel is fully booked and we do not have any other rooms available. Sadly there is nothing I can do.’

I put my fingers to my temples feeling as though I was going to lose the plot again.

‘We cannot stay in the same room,’ said Theo, sounding as weary of all this as I was. ‘C’est pas possible.’

The manager sighed deeply, as though he was the one being forced to share a bed with someone he couldn’t stand. Empathy clearly wasn’t his strong point.