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is Ruby’s Two?”
    â€œIt’s where the girls are.”
    Emma continues to look bemused.
    â€œA strip club! It’s where all our hedge-fund husbands go for their boys’ nights out. And trust me, it’s not exactly . . . not exactly sophisticated.”
    â€œAre you calling his girlfriend cheap?”
    â€œYes!” slurs Sophie delightedly. “That’s exactly what I’m calling her. She’s nothing compared to you. And without the makeup she’s probably as rough as anything.”
    â€œYou’re mean when you’re drunk.” Emma sits back, looking at her friend in astonishment, narrowing her eyes to try to focus more clearly.
    â€œI’m not mean. I’m just more honest. Seriously.”
    Before Emma can respond, Dominic comes over with the blond girl. “Ladies, I’d like you to meet Gina.”
    Sophie puts on her most gracious smile. “So nice to meet you,” she says, as Emma admires her capacity to switch gears so quickly. “I’m Sophie.”
    â€œHow do you do?” Emma extends a hand to Gina. “I’m Emma.”
    Gina’s smile is polite, if not warm. “Which one of you is the tenant?”
    â€œMe.” Emma raises a hand. “I just moved in this morning.”
    â€œI guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other,” she says eventually. “I stay over a lot next door.”
    â€œGreat,” says Emma. “You’ll have to pop in for a cup of tea.”
    â€œRight,” says Gina, who mumbles vaguely—something along the lines of how nice it is to have met her—then walks off to the other end of the bar.
    â€œNot exactly warm and fuzzy.” Sophie pretends to whisper this, but she is within earshot of Dominic.
    â€œI’m sorry.” He turns to face them. “She’s a nice girl underneath, but not much of a woman’s woman. It’s just insecurity.”
    â€œWhy is she insecure?” Emma is perplexed. “She’s gorgeous.”
    Dominic shrugs. “Isn’t it a female thing?”
    They all turn to see Gina, at the other end of the bar, who smiles at them before beckoning Dominic over. It’s clear he has no choice.
    â€œGotta go,” he mutters.
    â€œWuss,” mutters Sophie, as Emma just shakes her head and laughs. “You know why she just did that, right? Claimed her territory?” says Sophie, as Gina slides her arms around Dominic again, from the other side of the bar, and kisses him deeply. “She’s threatened by you.”
    â€œWhy on earth would she be threatened by me?”
    â€œBecause . . . I don’t know. There’s something. I think he might like you.”
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous,” says Emma. “Never have there been two people less compatible than my landlord and myself. Just because neither of us is married doesn’t mean we’re going to jump into bed together.” She doesn’t know why she feels the sudden need to defend herself, to insist that there is no possibility of anything happening, when she is beginning to notice she feels happy whenever he is around.
    â€œIt might be fun.”
    â€œI’m not planning on finding out. Don’t you think it’s time we made a move to go home?”

SIX
    I t takes a while for Emma to open her eyes. She isn’t sure where she is at first. The room is brighter than she is used to, and it smells different. Her head is pounding. As she swims up to consciousness, she cracks open one eye to see the light flooding in through the French doors in the bedroom.
    Ah. It comes back to her. She is in the rental house. There are boxes everywhere. The light is flooding in through the sheer white Ikea panels on either side of the windows. She hadn’t drawn them last night, not that it would have made a difference—they wouldn’t keep out the brightness of this summer’s day.
    Last night. Oh