Everyone knew about my family situation and had sent good wishes to my dad in Germany. Betsy had told me to invite Evie over so she could meet her properly, having only seen her and Darren arguing in the Italian restaurant on the night I moved in. Evie was coming today, in fact. She and Darren had been back for a while but they’d been so busy re-establishing their marital home that I’d barely seen them.

‘I might ask you to bake for me again,’ I said through a mouthful of flapjack. ‘This is really good.’

‘No need to sound surprised! I was on the school PTA cake sale committee for years. My Viennese whirls are second to none. Now, tell me to keep my snout out,’ Clare brushed the crumbs from her cleavage and took her ever-present crocheting from her bag, ‘but you’re smart, lovely and, unless you’re very good at hiding things, you’ve got no obvious off-putting personal habits. And I can’t help wondering about you being single?’

‘You mean who’s the baby’s father and why am I not with him?’

‘Well, yeah.’ She looked sheepish. ‘Sorry, I’m a nosy moo, but in my defence I know first-hand how tricky first babies can be.’

My face must have fallen because Clare reached across and rubbed my arm, smiling sympathetically.

‘Put it this way: it’s not what I’d have planned,’ I admitted, smoothing my T-shirt dress down over my bump. ‘But better on my own and happy than with someone who was making me miserable.’

‘Abso-bloody-lutely.’ Clare gave a nod of approval. ‘Although to play devil’s advocate, some men come into their own when they reach fatherhood and they finally grow up.’

I shuddered. ‘Harvey would have to do a lot more than grow up for me to want him back in my life. I haven’t seen or spoken to him since before I started here. And I don’t want to either.’

I posted the last mouthful of flapjack in and chewed resolutely.

Clare frowned. ‘Knowing how easy-going you are, he must have really done a number on you.’ I nodded and she rolled her eyes. ‘Listen to me, I’m doing it again, poking my nose in.’

‘It’s okay,’ I said, laughing softly. ‘I don’t mind talking about him. We met online and I fell for him completely; I really thought Harvey was the one and we moved down to London to start a new life together. We were ecstatically happy for a while and then gradually he started to change; bit by bit he became very controlling and jealous. By the time I realized I ought to leave him, he’d even begun to get aggressive. I don’t know how I got him so wrong.’