‘Dulcie, whatever’s happened?’

Bibi’s voice, when it came, was gentle. She crouched down in front of Dulcie and peeled away one of her hands.

Dulcie kept the other one clamped over her eyes.

‘Sweetheart, you can’t sit here like this. Tell me what’s wrong.’

Between gulps and shuddering sobs, Dulcie muttered something under her breath.

Bibi leaned closer.

‘What was that?’

‘I s-s-stole something from B-B-BabyGap,’ whispered Dulcie. She pushed the mittens, by this time soggy with tears, into Bibi’s hands. ‘I d-didn’t mean to. It w-was an accident.’

‘Oh, Dulcie, of course it was an accident! You’d never do anything like that on purpose.’ Bibi shook her head, her forehead creased with concern. ‘Did they call the police? Were you arrested?

Darling, don’t cry, we’ll tell them you aren’t the shoplifting type.’

Dulcie couldn’t imagine for the life of her why Bibi was being so nice. She wiped her streaming nose on her sleeve and said weakly, ‘I wasn’t caught. Nobody saw me do it. ‘I found them in my pocket just now. Have you got a tissue?’

Bibi never went anywhere without her Handy Andies. She unzipped her bag and gave Dulcie the whole packet.

‘But if you weren’t caught,’ she frowned, ‘why are you crying?’

‘I don’t know.’ Dulcie blew her nose and shrugged. ‘I’m j-just miserable. I’ve made a complete and utter balls-up of everything. Dammit, I’m a walking j j jinx.’

‘If you were jinxed,’ said Bibi, trying to cheer her up, ‘you’d have been caught pinching those mittens. There, you see? You weren’t, were you? That’s something to be grateful for, for a start.’

It didn’t work.

‘But what am ‘I going to do?’ sniffed Dulcie. ‘It’s too late to go back and pay for them now.

Everywhere’s shutting.’

Bibi peered at the damp price ticket. All this fuss over six pounds fifty.

‘I could pop in there tomorrow,’ she offered, ‘explain what happened and give them the money.

Or you could send them a cheque.’

Dulcie wiped her mascara-stained eyes and sighed. ‘Okay, I’ll do that.’

Bibi straightened up.

‘And are you just going to carry on sitting there,’ she eyed the pile of carriers from Casa Pupo, Jolly’s, Janet Reger and Diablo, ‘like an upmarket bag lady?’

‘I’ll go home in a minute.’

‘Or we could stop off at Leander’s if you like.’

Dulcie looked up at her, astounded.

‘You mean go for a drink? What, both of us ... together?’ Bibi smiled.

‘Well, we could sit at opposite ends of the bar if you preferred, but I think you need to talk to someone about whatever’s troubling you.’ She paused, then bent down to pick up Dulcie’s bags.

‘And now we’ve broken. the ice ...’

Leander’s wine bar was dimly lit and not too busy. It also had plenty of tables tucked away in secluded corners where bedraggled, mascara-stained women could hide without frightening the other customers.

Bibi beamed at the waiter and ordered vodka and tonics, then turned to Dulcie.

‘They still do that amazing white chocolate ice cream. How about it?’

Dulcie shook her head. She was too depressed to eat ice cream.

‘No thanks, just a drink’s fine.’

‘You used to have both,’ chided Bibi. ‘Always. Darling, you were the queen of ice cream! Come on, just have a little bowl...’

Every time she thought she’d stopped crying, Dulcie started again. She was getting through Bibi’s Handy Andies at a rate of knots.

‘I’m sorry,’ she blubbed, ‘it’s because you’re being kind. ‘I still can’t believe you’re even speaking to me.’

Bibi’s expression softened. She and Dulcie had always been so fond of each other. She gave her daughter-in-law’s icy fingers a squeeze.

‘I’ve missed you,’ she said simply.

More tears dripped down Dulcie’s cheeks.

‘Oh, Bibi, I’ve missed you too. I’m so, so sorry about James. I didn’t mean to—’

‘I know you didn’t. You meant well.’ Bibi patted her hand reassuringly. ‘It was a good plan; it just didn’t quite come off.’

The young waiter brought their drinks and a bowl of the famous ice cream for Dulcie. She smiled damply and thanked him. This had been one of her and Bibi’s favourite pit stops during their shopping blitzes, and he had remembered she liked extra wafers and extra-extra roasted almonds.

Unless of course it’s Bibi’s face he remembers and he’s getting me muddled up with someone else .. .

‘I expect you come here with Claire now,’ she said bravely, to prove to Bibi how civilised she could be.

‘No.’ Bibi looked surprised.

‘But ... the two of you do go shopping together. I saw you, that ... er, time outside your house.’

‘Oh, we went once.’ Bibi nodded, remembering. ‘Patrick had mentioned you and ‘I used to shop together so Claire offered to go with me. That was all.’

Dulcie was intrigued by the lack of detail. Bibi was to gossip what Joan Rivers was to face lifts.

So intrigued she forgot to cry, Dulcie took a mouthful of ice cream instead and said, ‘And?’

Bibi sighed.

‘Oh Lord, I’m supposed to be impartial.’

‘Don’t be impartial, it’s boring.’ Dulcie loaded one of the wafers with ice cream and decided she was hungry after all. ‘Tell me why you only went shopping with her once.’

‘Oh, it was a disaster.’ Bibi came clean. ‘I did my best, Dulcie, really ‘I did, but what can you do with a girl whose idea of splashing out is two pairs of tights and a navy cardigan from Littlewoods?’

Dulcie gazed at her, speechless with pleasure.

‘She’s very keen on value for money,’ Bibi went on, ‘and comfortable clothes that won’t fall apart after five minutes. And she likes to decide in advance exactly what she needs to buy, because it saves time.’

‘Saves time ...’ Dulcie echoed faintly.

‘I’ve never met anyone so efficient.’ Bibi shook her head and looked sorrowful. ‘The whole trip lasted ninety-five minutes.’

‘Good grief.’

‘She’s a lovely girl,’ Bibi added hastily, ‘don’t get me wrong. Absolutely charming.’

‘Just not shopping-compatible.’ Dulcie nodded to show she understood, valiantly forcing herself not to say anything bitchy.

‘That’s it. We might not be shopping-compatible but she’s still terribly nice.’

‘Oh yes, ‘I know what you mean. Terribly, terribly nice.’

‘Mmm.’

‘For example, that amazingly ugly man over there with the huge wart on the end of his nose makes me want to start telling Quasimodo jokes,’ said Dulcie, ‘but if Claire was here now, I just know she’d say, "Oh, I didn’t even notice that massive wart, ‘I was just thinking what lovely kind eyes he has." ‘

‘She would,’ said Bibi solemnly. ‘She certainly would. Claire was the one, actually, who told me that you hadn’t meant to split me and James up. She said ‘I should make things up with you, heal the—’

‘Oh please!’ wailed Dulcie. ‘Pass the sick bag. I’ve heard enough about Saint jolly-nice Claire for one night.’

Bibi watched Dulcie – now well on the road to recovery – scrape her bowl.

‘More ice cream? More vodka?’

‘Yes please.’

‘Feeling better?’

Dulcie nodded.

‘I was so jealous,’ she admitted shamefacedly, ‘when I saw the two of you together.’

‘It was nothing. Just a one-morning stand,’ said Bibi with a grin.

‘Still, Patrick seems happy enough with her.’

Bibi attracted the attention of their waiter. When she’d reordered, she shrugged.

‘That’s men for you. Talk about going from one extreme to the other.’

Was this a compliment or not? Dulcie was still trying to puzzle it out when Bibi went on casually, ‘I mean, look at James. One minute he’s with me, the next he’s having a fling with some mini-skirted blonde in her twenties.’

Dulcie squirmed, her skin prickling with guilt.

‘Oh God.’

‘Doesn’t matter. It didn’t last long anyway.’

‘How do you know?’

‘He’s living in the flat above Margaret Taylor, in Devenish House.’ Bibi managed a slight smile.

‘She’s kept me up to date with his ... er ... comings and goings.’

More guilt, a great tidal wave of the stuff this time. ‘I did this, thought Dulcie. It’s all my fault.

‘Do you still miss him terribly?’ Her voice was small. Bibi said nothing for a moment. She studied her immaculately polished nails. Then she nodded.

‘Yes.’

‘But ... have you tried contacting him? I mean, have you seen him at all?’ Dulcie persisted.

‘Of course ‘I haven’t.’ Bibi’s eyes were full of pain but she spoke with dignity. ‘What would be the point of that? Dulcie, I didn’t end it. James was the one who dumped me.’

But there were a million other things to talk about. The conversation moved on. Unhappily for Dulcie it didn’t take long to get around to Liam McPherson.

‘Anyway,’ said Bibi when they had finished discussing Pru and Eddie’s wedding, ‘while we’re on the subject of perfect men, what happened to that dishy tennis pro of yours?’ She lowered her voice. ‘And what was all this I heard about you expecting a baby?’

Dulcie swallowed hard. She wasn’t proud of that little piece of deception. God, she did some stupid things sometimes.

Bibi was looking at her with a mixture of concern and sympathy.

‘We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, darling. But sometimes it helps.’ She paused then said delicately, ‘Was it a miscarriage, or did you ...?’

‘I wasn’t pregnant. ‘I just pretended to be,’ Dulcie confessed with a sigh. What the hell, she may as well admit everything. Bibi knew her well enough; she wasn’t likely to be too shocked by the depths to which her errant daughter-in-law was capable of sinking.

Bibi looked confused.

‘You mean ...?’

‘I was desperate,’ said Dulcie bleakly. ‘Liam was up for itwith any woman who so much as smiled at him in the street. He couldn’t keep his tracksuit bottoms on if his life depended on it.