Andi was silent for a few moments, thinking this over, then gave a faint smile. ‘I don’t intend to wither away either. I’ll look after Hayley and Ryan really carefully, I promise you.’

‘Of course you will. And Tom will be next door in the big house if you need to ask about anything.’

‘Donna said if things went well, she’d like me to look after them regularly, to give Jane a break, and she knows some other people who’d offer me occasional days of work here and there. That’d be another step forward, wouldn’t it? And I’d be earning money again.’

‘Definitely good news.’

Late the following morning, Sophie waved goodbye to Andi as she went through the gate into the next garden, anticipating a blissful few hours writing in peace. She found it hard to write with other people nearby, needed space and quiet to fill with her imaginary characters.

She hoped Jez would have a good day, trying out his new studio. And that Andi would enjoy looking after the children.

Now, where had she stopped in her story … The real world faded from round her and the imaginary world took its place.

Andi listened carefully to Jane’s instructions, with Hayley holding her hand and jigging about in excitement.

‘I’ll look after them really carefully,’ she promised.

As they got lunch ready, Jane chatted quietly. ‘We’ve not really got into routines here yet, but we’re starting to. We don’t eat any junk food, for a start. They’ve had far too much of that in their short lives.’

Andi knew Jane was studying her carefully, but that didn’t worry her. She always felt confident with children.

After lunch, Jane got ready, kissed each child and kissed Andi’s cheek too, which felt nice, then set off.

Tom popped across in the middle of the afternoon to check that things were all right and smiled to see his daughter cuddled up to Andi, who was telling her a story. ‘Not got a cuddle for your daddy?’ he demanded, pretending to be upset when Hayley didn’t run towards him. ‘I’ll cry if you don’t. Boo hoo!’

‘You’re only pretending to cry,’ Hayley said at once.

‘How do you know that?’

‘Because your mouth goes wiggly when you pretend.’

He roared with laughter and tossed her in the air. ‘There’s no fooling you, is there, young lady?’

‘How’s the studio going?’ Andi asked as he set the giggling child down.

Tom’s face lit up. ‘It’s magic. They’ve checked it all out and I got most things right when I set it up. Jez is using it now and do you know what? He’s offered to get me trained to be a sound engineer if I want. If I want! I’d kill for a job like that. I love music.’

‘What’s your favourite kind of music?’

They were off immediately into a discussion, which revealed that they had fairly similar tastes.

When he left, Andi smiled. It had all been so normal, just as if she’d been talking to Ross, or another friend. What pleased her most was that Tom knew what had happened to her and hadn’t been revolted by it, something which had been worrying her. And he’d left his children in her care. It felt good to be trusted.