The lights were strobing. The club jumped and shifted in the jerky beams. I groped my way to a handrail and stood, gripping it tightly, trying to keep my balance in the thumping music and popping light. I stared across the gyrating bodies on the dance floor. Each moment was separated, frozen. A series of photographs of raised arms, grinding torsos, locked limbs.

One revealed Matt, in the background, on his feet. I focused, trying to piece together the set of jerking pictures. He was half-turned, leaning forward, talking intently to someone. To a young woman. His body obscured her face but I caught glimpses of her curves. Tall and slim and encased like a sausage in a tight, figure-hugging sheath. Sexy.

I felt my way along the handrail towards them. The floor was sticky with spilt drinks. Matt’s body was tense as he leaned in to her. The strain showed in his hunched shoulders and the jabbing movement of his hand as he talked through the music.

I found my way across the edge of the seating. As I climbed the steps up to our seats, I lost sight of them behind a row of pillars. At the top, I turned, closer now, then stopped dead as I saw the woman’s face. Her. The last woman on earth I wanted to see. Ella.

She shifted her gaze and saw me. For a moment, our eyes locked. She didn’t have the grace to look embarrassed, just stared me down with a hostile, superior glare. I stared back and she turned away, all disdain, and began to stalk off on her high heels, this woman who had wrecked my marriage, whose dangerous driving nearly killed my daughter.

Rage took me. I broke into a messy run, banging against the backs of the seats as I closed the gap between us, reached her, grabbed her arm to swing her round to face me.

‘Why’re you here?’ I paused. ‘You followed me, didn’t you?’

Her eyes showed surprise, then became cold. She reached calmly down to prise my sweaty fingers off her sleeve, brushing away all trace of them.

‘What were you saying to him? Leave us alone. Haven’t you done enough?’ I plunged on, my mouth out of control. ‘You can’t bear to see me happy, can you? Is that it?’

She made again to turn away from me. She simply pretended she couldn’t hear me, that I didn’t exist. The more composed she looked, the more she infuriated me. I barged into her.

I called through the blast of noise from the speakers. ‘Who’s Catherine?’

She stopped in her tracks and swung round. Beneath all that make-up, her cheeks turned grey. You were right, my lovely girl. You were so right. Why did I ever doubt you?

‘So it’s true. You had a child, didn’t you?’ Every word hit home now. Each one pierced her. She couldn’t move. She stood there, rooted, and took the blows.

Matt stepped forward and put his hand on my arm. He tried to pull me away, but I threw him off. Someone else took possession of my tongue and I couldn’t have stopped if I’d wanted to.

‘Even Richard doesn’t know that, does he?’ I don’t know where the words came from. They just tumbled out, fuelled by the wine and the hate I felt for her. She was capable of anything. I just knew it. ‘What did you do to her? Did you hurt her, like you hurt Gracie? Too wrapped up in yourself to consider the safety of a poor, defenceless child?’

Her eyes were wide, staring. The emotion in them was raw but hard to read. Fear, perhaps. Or panic. Or just fury.

Her arm flashed out. She struck me hard in the chest and I tottered. The room tilted sideways and slid as I crashed, unguarded, to the floor. Pain stung the side of my face as it caught the hard edge of a chair. White shards flashed through my eyes and burst like fireworks. I groped blindly, stunned.

Matt moved quickly to stand between us, shielding me. He had his back to me but I saw her say something to him, her mouth twisted and tight. Then she bent over me. When she spoke, the words were hot against my ear.

‘You’re not fit to say her name.’

And she was gone.

Matt reached for my arm and heaved me to my feet. He looked pale. He picked up his jacket, held me upright against him and guided me slowly towards the exit.

In the taxi back home, I pressed close to him, feeling sick and grateful for the darkness. My head was spinning with alcohol and confusion. My ears still buzzed and whistled after the noise. My cheek throbbed.

‘What did she say to you?’

‘I don’t know.’ He shrugged. ‘She was drunk.’

‘Something about me?’ My mind was whirling, trying to work out what had happened. She must have seen us come in and waited her chance to approach Matt. To cause trouble. ‘What?’

‘I couldn’t even hear.’ He stroked my hand. ‘She didn’t make much sense.’ He paused. ‘Anyway, we don’t care, do we?’

I saw again the sheath dress, the heels. ‘You do realise who she is?’

He nodded, avoiding my eyes. ‘She said.’

I hesitated. ‘What’s she doing out anyway? Is Richard with her?’ My voice was rising. ‘Who’s looking after Gracie?’

Matt shook his head. ‘She was with a group of girls. Quite a rowdy crowd. A hen do, maybe.’

The taxi braked suddenly and I slipped forward, tumbled off the seat. Matt crouched down and lifted me up. His hands were strong and warm and his eyes kind.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘It’s my fault. You were right. We should have gone home after dinner.’

He settled me against him, his arm firmly round my shoulders. The streets were crowded with young people, drinking, jostling, chatting in jumbled clusters. I wondered if you’d fallen asleep quickly and if you’d wake in the night and call out for me and if Richard had remembered the monitor.

‘Forget her. She doesn’t matter, does she?’ Matt whispered in my ear. His breath was hot. ‘We’re happy, aren’t we? We’ve found each other. Nothing can spoil that.’ His hand, resting on my arm, shifted until his fingertips stroked the curve of my breast. ‘Let’s enjoy every minute.’ His lips closed on the soft skin of my neck.