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‘Well tough, you can’t win them all,’ said Claire. ‘And maybe he should have let me have a shot or two. That might have swung it for us for all he knows,’ she said all seriously, before dissolving into laughter.

‘We didn’t get a flipping look-in!’ I said, cracking up, too.

‘Still, it’s more exercise than I usually get in a week, so all good in my eyes,’ said Claire. ‘Now let’s go and have a drink. I need cold white wine pronto.’

That afternoon we were forced to endure yet another group therapy session which, luckily for me, had been mostly focused on Justin and Renee, who Melissa felt needed a little more encouragement than the rest of us (I didn’t think she could have been including Theo and me in that analogy). And then in the evening, the eight of us plus Melissa had dinner together at a little bistro a short walk from the hotel. I’d spent a worrying amount of time wondering whether to nip down to Rue d’Antibes beforehand to buy myself something new to wear. Suddenly nothing I owned seemed chic enough for a night out in Cannes. Part of me also thought I owned nothing nice enough for a night out with Theo, who always looked as though he’d just stepped out of the pages ofVogue Hommes, but I squashed that thought pretty quickly. This was about me and how I felt about myself. In no way was I doing any of this for him.

At dinner, Theo sat to one side of me, Claire the other.

‘I love your jumpsuit,’ said Claire, referring to the one thing I’d packed that I didn’t feel like a suburban housewife in. ‘I wish I could wear stuff like that, but I just don’t think I’ve got the waist for it.’

‘Nonsense, you always look amazing,’ I told her.Her style had a modern vintage vibe, all bright colours and scarves in her hair and big hoop earrings. Like Theo, when she walked into a room she made an impact, which I loved and which I wished I could emulate. I’d had a couple of awkward incidents at book events where I’d introduced myself to booksellers to explain that I was one of the authors there for the event and they’d given me a look to suggest that they’d never have had me down as an author in a million years.

‘By the way, I need to thank you and Theo for putting a rocket up Rob’s arse. He’s even talking about the four of us doing a round of golf before we leave,’ said Claire.

‘I’m not sure if I can deal with any more not-so-friendly competition,’ I said, glancing at Theo who was chatting to Harmony on the other side of him, about books, interestingly enough. She was cooing all over him and was now bending his ear about the book that she wanted to write and assumed she’d get published the second she sent it out on submission. In fact, I heard her say, she was already pre-empting a movie deal. As if sensing that I was watching and also – possibly – desperate to break away from Harmony, who was now proceeding to give him a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the book she hadn’t even started writing yet, Theo swivelled to face me.

‘Having a good evening?’ he asked, his shoulder brushing against mine. I should probably move my chair so that it didn’t happen again, but I somehow felt rooted to the spot. Perhaps I’d stay where I was for now.

‘Definitely,’ I enthused. ‘Delicious food.’

I’d gone for a saladNiçoise, a speciality of nearby Nice, plus nigh-on half a basket of breads and olive oils. Theo topped up my wine, then his own.

‘How’s your leg?’ he asked.

I appreciated his concern. Perhaps he felt bad about the way he’d bulldozed his way through proceedings.

‘I’d forgotten all about it, to be honest,’ I said. ‘Still pumped up from winning the match, are you? You seemed pretty keen to come out on top.’

He smiled, picking up his wine to take a large sip.

‘You think I was too much,’ he said, his eyes boring into me.

I hesitated, wondering how much he’d been able to pick up on.

‘I feel you missed the point of the game.’

‘Which was . . .?’ he asked.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said, bottling it. The game was over now, wasn’t it?

‘You need to tell me about this point I missed, Scarlett. Otherwise I might inadvertently miss it again,’ he insisted softly.

I checked on Claire, who was deep in conversation with Rob. Would she mind, I wondered, if I gave him the bare bones of what was going on?

‘OK, but keep this on the down low,’ I said, shuffling closer to him so that there was no denying the fact that our shoulders were pressed together now. Needs must, because nobody else could hear this. Mind you, they all seemed pretty caught up in conversations of their own, anyway, and it wasn’t exactly quiet in here with the chatter and the clink of glasses and loud voices in forceful French and a smattering of English.

‘You’re making me very anxious,’ said Theo.

‘Am I?’ I asked, genuinely surprised.

‘No.’

I tutted. ‘Haha. This is actually quite serious.’

‘The suspense is killing me,’ said Theo.

I lowered my voice so it was little more than a whisper. ‘Rob isn’t too happy about being on the couples retreat. He thinks it’s too expensive and that there’s too much wanky group therapy.’