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Like the other seven it was bedecked with heavy silver rings and her nails, long and carefully filed, were scarlet, without a chip, the polish gleaming beneath its coat of clear varnish. No one would realise it had taken her an age to remove the paint from her hands and nails and wrists. Her lips, in the same shade, were pursed as she recalled it was Daniel who had paired Jenny off with Nick and that had turned out to be a disaster. It was nowfar enough in the past that it was safe to have them under the same roof.
    ‘I won’t. Cross my heart.’ He did so as he stood up and stretched. ‘Ought I to change?’ He looked down at his brown cords. The nap on the knees had disappeared but his Viyella shirt with its tiny brown and white checks was perfectly presentable as was the matching brown V-necked sweater.
    ‘You know I don’t mind.’
    ‘I think I will, trousers, anyway. You look so smart.’
    She turned to hide a smile. Stella knew that had she insisted he tidy up he would have refused, stating that people must take him as he was.
    ‘Hey, take it easy.’ He patted her shoulder. Stella had jumped when the door bell chimed.
    ‘Someone’s early.’ Brushing the cold metal of the rail with her hand she went down the circular wrought-iron staircase to see who it was. ‘Jenny! It’s unlike you to be so punctual.’
    ‘I was hoping Maddy would be here. She’s always the first to turn up.’
    ‘Maddy? No, you’re the first. You should’ve called for her on the way.’
    Jenny put on her helpless face, her head on one side. ‘I need a job.’ She still modelled for artists,clothed or unclothed, having the sort of looks which transposed well to canvas, but it was by no means a full-time job and many couldn’t afford to pay her at all. Sometimes she was rewarded with a meal or a painting that didn’t sell or a few drinks in one of the pubs.
    ‘Well, I don’t see how Maddy can help. Oh, come on up. You look as if you could do with a drink. I certainly could but I promised myself I wouldn’t start until someone arrived.’
    Jenny smiled behind her back, knowing the state her hostess needed to work herself up into before she could begin to enjoy the evening. ‘I just thought she might like someone to work in the shop. She could spend all her time at her craftwork then.’
    ‘Be realistic, Jenny. All right, she’s doing okay in the run-up to Christmas, but January and February? Even in the summer she just scrapes by.’
    ‘I know. But I’m desperate, anything’s worth a try. I don’t suppose you …’
    Stella raised her hands, palms facing forward. Her face was stern. ‘No chance, Jenny. Sorry.’ Stella could have afforded to employ the girl but for some reason, when Jenny was involved, there was always trouble. She wasn’t dishonest or rude,she was just one of those people who was always caught in the vortex of other people’s problems and managed to exacerbate them. But Stella was honest enough to admit that the main reason was that Jenny Manders found it difficult to keep her hands off other women’s men. The door bell rang again. ‘You’ll have to help yourself. On the side there.’ Stella indicated the drinks that were kept for their personal use before clattering down the stairs to admit Mike and Barbara Phillips and Rose whose cars had converged in the car-park simultaneously.
    Stella frowned. ‘Barbara, you know Jenny, don’t you?’ Her life was hectic and there were occasions when she couldn’t remember which of her friends and acquaintances already knew each other.
    ‘Yes. Nice to see you again.’
    Rose grinned at Jenny and accepted a glass of wine. Two would have to be her limit as she had come in the car. She knew nothing of Nick’s three-year affair with Jenny, only that there had been someone until six months ago. These were new friends, more personal details had not yet been exchanged, although the basics of their lives were no secret.
    ‘Ah, here already.’ Daniel had changed