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‘I knew I liked him,’ said Theo.

‘And I told Claire I’d help show him a good time. So that he relaxes a bit and, you know, makes a bit more of an effort with the other stuff.’

Theo looked confused. ‘And you’re getting involved in this why?’

It was a reasonable question.

‘I’m simply trying to help Claire out.’

‘But it’s their relationship, isn’t it?’ he said, leaning into my thigh while he speared one of the olives he’d ordered for the table to share. ‘It’s for them to sort out. So why are you meddling in it?’

I was taken aback by that. Was that really how he saw it?

‘Meddling?!’ I said.

‘Yes. Not everyone needs to be fixed, you know.’

‘I think it’s extremely rude of you to say that when I’m only trying to help,’ I said. There were lots of things I could do to make things better for people. And so why on earth wouldn’t I try?

‘Genuine question: Do you like people interfering in your business when you’re having relationship issues?’ he asked.

‘I’ve . . . yes! If it helps.’

Saying that, I’d never really talked about my relationships with anyone. Possibly a little bit with Alexa on occasion, but I tended not to. I’d never felt the need. What good would involving other people do?

‘And does it usually? Help?’ asked Theo, like a dog with a bone.

I sighed, exasperated. ‘We’re not talking about myrelationships. We’re talking about me helping other people.’

Theo looked sideways at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. ‘I have to say, if nothing else, I admire your tenacity. The fact that you wade headlong into somebody else’s war zone without a second thought.’

He pulled away then, his shoulder detaching from mine, his knee moving an inch the other way. The mood had shifted and I didn’t quite know why. Although it was probably a good thing. I didn’t like it when he was being nice because it was much easier to not be able to stand him.

‘By the way, not every bit of conflict has to feel like a war zone,’ I said, because it didn’t. Sometimes things just needed a little push in the right direction. For someone to approach things from a different angle. ‘And even if it did,’ I admitted, ‘I’d probably throw myself in there anyway.’

Theo clinked my glass as though we were celebrating something.

‘I applaud your bravery,’ he said.

‘Are you drunk?’ I asked him in all seriousness.

‘Not yet.’

I watched the others for a bit. How Justin and Renee were choosing a dessert, all earnest and thoughtful as though it was the most important decision in the world. How Paul clearly fancied Melissa and how Harmony was so self-assured she didn’t bat an eyelid. How Claire and Rob sporadically made each other laugh out loud.

‘We should probably exchange chapters tonight,’ said Theo. ‘If you want.’

My stomach flipped. I knew this was what we had to do in order to move forward with the novel, but it still felt terrifying. He’d written chapters one and three, leaving me to do two and four. Four had been particularly hard because by then we’d established that the husband was missing andthat their marriage hadn’t been as idyllic as it seemed, but we needed the story to change direction again, to push the narrative forward.

‘Sure,’ I said. ‘I’ll ping them over when I get back to my room.’

Theo nodded in a way that felt reassuring for about a second. There was no going back now.

Chapter Twelve

The following morning I lay in bed with the windows thrown open reading through the chapters Theo had sent over. I was gripped from the off. He’d set up everything so well: the deserted beach, the marital row, the husband disappearing into the water for a swim, his wife beginning to worry when he doesn’t arrive back at their hotel room. I’d picked it up from there and had sent my chapters off late last night, after I’d tweaked and tweaked them, anxious that they weren’t quite right, that he’d find fault and I’d take it personally (which I didn’t ever when it came to notes but I felt like maybe I would with him this time) and then it would be difficult to come back from because I’d be second-guessing every single thing I wrote. Anyway, in the end I’d had to send something off because I’d promised to and I wasn’t one to miss a deadline. Carla’s words were ringing in my ears: she needed sample chapters as soon as possible. I knew how fast publishing changed, how one minute they couldn’t wait to read your work and the next the genre was out of favour and they were on to the next big thing. If we wanted to take advantage of the interest, we had to act quickly.

Theo’s chapter three was equally as good and I read it with a mixture of admiration and envy, flicking through the pages on my phone at the speed of light because his pacing was just so good and he kept setting up all these questions that I was desperate to know the answer to but knew thateven he probably didn’t know what they were at this point, because that was something we would have to work out together. But he was planting seeds all over the place and it was phenomenally effective.