“Hold your hands a little higher when you’re addressing the ball,” Tamsin said, lifting Diane’s hands and the club they were gripping by an inch. “This is a seven iron, not a driver.”

Diane felt her posture straighten slightly as a consequence. She was trying to keep her focus on hitting the ball nice and straight, but Tamsin’s touch, innocuous as it was, made it very hard. She swung her club back, paused for a fraction of a second at the top, and then brought the club back towards the ball. The ball flew straight to the right side of the driving range, not rising more than three feet above the ground.

Diane looked at Tamsin sheepishly. “I guess I have to adjust to this new position of my hands.”

Tamsin chuckled. “You need to keep your eyes on the ball for longer when you hit. No need to look up so soon, I’ll see where it goes.”

“I suppose I’m finding it hard to keep my eyes focused on anything else than you these days.” Diane gave Tamsin a goofy grin.

It had been ten days since their first night together. In that time they had seen each other almost every evening and woken up together almost every morning. They had taken the car down to the seaside at the weekend, had walked along the beach, and had arrived back in Tynebury in the evening exhausted, but even more hungry for each other than before. The seaside air acting as a potent aphrodisiac.

When they weren’t exploring the physical pleasures of a blossoming new relationship, Diane and Tamsin spent most of the time talking, about everything. They had discussed their childhood, places they’d travelled to, the National Health Service. They had opened up about their ambitions for themselves when they were young and how they felt they’d fulfilled them.

In Tamsin’s presence Diane felt like a giddy hormonal teenager who wanted more and more of that sensual intimacy she had only just discovered. At the same time, their affair felt so mature and full of the companionship everyone aspired to have with a person they wanted to share the rest of their life with. Because when Diane pictured her future now, Tamsin was an inextricable part of it.

When they were apart during the day Diane found herself checking the clock constantly, counting the hours and minutes until she could leave the office and join Tamsin at her cottage or go home and wait for Tamsin to arrive.

They’d been living in a bubble ever since that first night. They had only spent time together inside their homes or away from Tynebury and the golf club. Tamsin had asked Diane a couple of times to join her for lunch at the club or to meet her in the village for a drink after work, but Diane had found an excuse to say no every time.

When they had woken that morning, Tamsin had reminded Diane that she had booked a lesson with her a couple of weeks ago, before they had grown closer to each other. Diane’s first thought had been to cancel. She did not feel ready to be seen in public with Tamsin, even if what they would be doing was completely innocent. But as Diane had opened her mouth to tell Tamsin she wanted to cancel the lesson, she’d found Tamsin looking at her with such expectation, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud. And anyway, their lesson was planned for nine-thirty on a Wednesday. There would hardly be anyone at the club to witness the two of them together.

Tamsin placed a new ball in front of Diane. “Really focus on keeping your head down as long as possible this time. Don’t worry about where the ball goes.”

Diane set herself up, hands higher than what felt comfortable. She swung and kept her eyes on the ball until the momentum of her arms and body made her head turn towards the range. She saw the ball she’d just hit fly high and straight towards the distance marker she had been aiming for.

“Excellent,” Tamsin said encouragingly. “That kind of shot deserves a kiss.” Tamsin took a step closer to Diane, but must have seen the look of panic on her face. She moved back to her previous position, sadness on her face.

“I’m sorry,” Diane said quickly. “I know it’s ridiculous to be so paranoid about someone seeing us. I don’t want you to feel I’m ashamed or anything like that.” She held out her hand and placed it on Tamsin’s arm in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture.

“It’s all right.” Tamsin smiled at her, but Diane could see a trace of trepidation in her eyes. “I got ahead of myself a bit again. I’ll try to keep myself under better control when we’re in public.” Now a more mischievous grin appeared on her face. “As long as I can give you your deserved reward tonight.”

“I most certainly hope you will,” Diane said, desire bubbling up inside of her at the thought of what Tamsin might have in store for her.

Diane towelled herself off carefully. Her lesson with Tamsin had only taken thirty minutes, but it was exceptionally warm today and she’d worked up a bit of a sweat. Not to mention the increase in body temperature that always occurred just from being in Tamsin’s vicinity. She had definitely needed a shower before heading to the office.

She heard the door to the changing room open.

“… And she told me I should think of investing in a new rescue wood,” a woman’s voice said as she walked in. Diane didn’t recognise it.

“I got mine from Greensome’s. You should go have a look.” Diane did recognise the second voice. Debbie.

Diane stood still in the shower stall, hoping the two women were only there to change shoes and would be out again quickly.

“Have you tried out the new teacher yet?” Debbie asked her friend.

“Not yet. How is she?”

“She’s great,” Debbie replied enthusiastically. At least Diane agreed with her on that. “I feel like I’m improving a little every time I have a session with her. I love that they hired someone not too old to replace Darren. And a woman.”

“Everyone seems quite smitten with her,” the unidentified woman said. She must be one of the new members whom Diane hadn’t met yet. “And clearly not just the men. Do you have a bit of a crush on her, Deborah?”

“A bit of a girl crush, maybe.”

Oh god, Diane thought. First Debbie had stolen her husband, now she had a crush on Diane’s lover?

Lover. Was that what Tamsin was? She could hardly call her her girlfriend. Surely women in their fifties did not have girlfriends.

“She does have that whole sporty, slightly androgynous thing going on,” Debbie continued. Her voice was coming from much closer to Diane’s shower stall now. “I can definitely understand the appeal, if one was that way inclined.” She giggled

Diane heard a tap being switched on and hands being washed.

“Well,” the other woman said in a conspiratorial tone. She also sounded as if she was standing much closer to Diane than she had been before. “Speaking of Tamsin’s appeal. I heard something just yesterday that you may find rather interesting.”

Diane held her breath to keep perfectly quiet. She did not want to miss anything of the conversation if the topic was Tamsin.

“You know Morag, who works at the Co-op? She told me that she was on her way to work on Monday morning—this was dead early; seven o’clock or something—and she saw Tamsin leave a house that wasn’t hers.” The woman paused to take a breath. “At that time of day, it could only be a walk of shame, don’t you think?”

“I suppose so,” Diane heard Debbie say. “Do you know whose house it was?”

“That’s the best bit.” The woman’s voice lowered now, as if she was worried someone would overhear them, but Diane could still hear her very clearly. “She said it was your Lawrence’s old house.”

Diane’s mouth fell open.

She heard a gasp on the other side of the shower door. Then Debbie said, “You’re joking.”

“I’m not. I asked Morag twice to be sure. Do you think it’s possible? Could there be something going on between Tamsin and Lawrence’s ex?”

Diane’s legs turned to jelly and she pressed her hand against the wall to steady herself. They had been so discreet. But still someone was on to them. She loved her village life in Tynebury, but right at that moment she wished for the anonymity of a big city.

Debbie took her time to reply. “Lawrence did mention once that he had a suspicion Diane might swing both ways. Not that she had ever done anything, I think. I just assumed it was some kind of wishful thinking on his part. To make her more interesting and justify why he stayed with her for so long.” She paused. “I just can’t believe someone as stuck up and boring could do something so…”

“Exciting?” The woman completed Debbie’s sentence. “Maybe she’s not as boring and stuck up as you think she is.”

Diane’s mortification was turning into anger now. She was of half a mind to walk out from the stall and confirm the rumour, just to prove to Debbie how wrong her image of Diane was.

But of course, she didn’t.

“Maybe not,” Debbie said with a giggle. “I can’t wait to tell Lawrence.”

The two women had finished washing their hands and, Diane guessed, were walking towards the door, as their voices started to grow more distant.

Diane felt like she had been holding her breath forever and exhaled as she heard the door to the changing room slam shut. Everything was quiet again, except for Diane’s heartbeat reverberating in her ears.

If Debbie knew there was something going on between her and Tamsin, then soon the whole club would know. Unless she and Tamsin came up with a plausible explanation for what she had been doing at Diane’s so early in the morning.

She hoped Debbie’s path wouldn’t cross Tamsin’s before Diane had a chance to talk to her so they could get their stories straight.

Diane waited for another minute before stepping out of the stall. She got dressed much more quickly than she had planned, not bothering to put on her make up. She’d fix her face at the office.

Once she was ready she exited the changing room and headed for the clubhouse doors. There, she paused and stared at the path to the car park, scanning her surroundings for any sign of Debbie. The coast seemed clear, so she hurried to her car and drove to the office. She had a feeling it would not be the most productive of days.