‘Safe journey,’ said Will, following her out down the hall. ‘Hey,’ he added as she reached the front door, then hesitated. For the first time since she’d arrived Maggie sensed a new uncertainty about him; a glimpse of the real Will behind the confident persona. ‘Thanks for this. It’s really good of you,’ he said.

She hoped her resulting snort was suitably contemptuous. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It is, isn’t it?’

‘I know I don’t deserve this,’ he said. Was that actually a humble note in his voice? He was looking . . . well, kind of shell-shocked actually. As if he was struggling to conflate the beautiful young woman now in his kitchen with the teeny daughter he’d left behind. ‘I’m ashamed of myself, Mag. I totally let you down. And Amelia too, obviously.’

She was not going to forgive him in a single moment, just because he had discovered his own guilty conscience. However hangdog those glossy brown eyes of his might be. ‘Yes,’ she said again. ‘You did. And you need to tell her that. Make it up to her.’

‘I will. I want to,’ he said. He sighed, shuffling his feet together in the doorway. ‘She seems amazing, by the way. You’ve done a great job. We really appreciate you letting her stay with us, getting to know the family.’

She wished he hadn’t said ‘the family’ like that. Up until then, she had almost been starting to warm back up to Will, just a tiny bit, remembering all the things she had liked about him – liked very much for a long time. With those two short words, though, it was as if a door had been slammed in her face. The family that neither Maggie nor Amelia belonged to, was what he meant. The family that he had bothered to make a go of.

‘Right,’ she said, swinging her face away. ‘I’ll be in touch with Amelia about when to pick her up on Friday, et cetera.’ With that, she walked stiffly back down the drive, feeling him watching her all the way.

God, she’s not aged well, she imagined him thinking. When did Maggie Laine get so old and boring?

She got into the car, trembling all over. Why, when it was her leaving Amelia now, did she feel as if she was the one who’d been abandoned?

Chapter Twelve