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‘Very good, Scarlett. That is amazing growth and hopefully you can continue to build on these foundations when you return home,’ said Melissa. ‘What about you, Theo?’

Theo was calm and still next to me, which was different for him. He wasn’t squirming uncomfortably like he might once have done at the first sniff of having to open up.

‘As you may have realised, I’m not usually one to talk about emotions,’ he said. ‘But it’s been surprisingly cathartic to think about some of the difficulties I’ve had in the past.’

There was a collective rumble as people agreed with him.

‘But as for romance, and I know that’s what some of you were hoping for from Scarlett and me, we’ve made the decision to focus exclusively on our book from now on. We’ve got a huge career opportunity here and in order not to put that at risk, we have decided to keep our relationship strictly professional.’

I looked around the table. There were a few disappointed faces, one or two sceptical looks. Claire patted my knee in solidarity.

‘It’s what works best,’ I said, supporting Theo’s statement and willing myself to believe it at the same time.

‘The book has to come first,’ added Theo.

For a second it felt as though we were trying to convince ourselves more than the table, the entirety of which was looking at us as though we were about to change our minds right in front of their eyes. They must all be romantics at heart – they were here on a couples retreat, weren’t they? Perhaps relationships were the most important thing to them and careers took second place, but it wasn’t like that for Theo and me. We had the job of our dreams and the stakes were high and a messy on/off romance was one hundred per cent not on the agenda.

Luckily, our entrées were promptly served with a flourish and the table was suddenly full of steaming plates of pasta and fish glistening with olive oil and baskets of crusty bread and another bottle of Bordeaux that somebody had ordered. I was just about to tuck in when my phone rang.

Melissa gave me a jokey stern look

‘I have been leaving it my room, honestly!’ I insisted.

I was tempted to leave it ringing anyway – I did that quite a lot lately – but I’d texted Dad an hour or so ago and he hadn’t replied yet. That wasn’t massively unusual – the carer might be there and he’d be in the shower or eating dinner. But until I’d heard back from him I couldn’t properly relax. I grabbed my phone from my bag. It was Kate. Without thinking I answered it, assuming she’d have some innocuous question about lawyers and that I’d be able to cut her short.

‘Hey,’ I said. ‘I’m just out to dinner, can it wait?’

‘Dad’s had a fall,’ she said, her voice light and breathy in a way I’d never heard it before.

I scraped back my chair and left the table immediately, pressing my finger against my ear to block out the sounds of other people having a good time when suddenly I wasn’t.

‘What happened?’ I asked her.

‘We’re not sure. The carer found him. She thinks he’d been trying to get upstairs.’

My heart was hammering in my chest and my mouth had instantly gone gravelly and dry. I licked my lips.

‘How is he?’

Kate hesitated for a second; enough time for me to assume the worst.

‘He’s dead, isn’t he?’ I said, my eyes filling with tears out of nowhere. It was like a tap had been turned on: all the worry and fear that something bad would happen had come to a head and was suddenly pouring out of me like an erupting volcano.

‘He’s not dead, for God’s sake, Scarlett. Trust you to jump straight to the worst case scenario. He’s in hospital, yes, but he’s conscious and hasn’t broken anything as far as they can tell. They’re keeping him in for a few days for observation.’

‘Oh,’ I said, sniffing and wiping my running nose on the only available surface: the sleeve of my Breton top.

‘Are youcrying?’ asked Kate, clearly incredulous that I was capable of demonstrating such vulnerability.

I went to deny it and then thought: Why should I?

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Yes, I am. I really thought you were going to tell me he’d died.’

I didn’t think Kate knew what to say to that as she’d gone completely silent. How to render my sister mute: talk about my feelings instead of hers.

I turned to look back at the restaurant to see Theo striding towards me with his napkin flapping about in his hand. He rushed up to me, holding both of my shoulders, gripping them tight.

‘What’s happened? Is it your dad?’