He had always considered himself to be the perfect balance for Elaine. She would be up in the clouds or, more precisely, up in the attic, while he fixed the girls’ swing in the garden or took the cat to the vet. Elaine was always on the move, not necessarily forward but sideways, up, across. She was a chess piece that made her own rules.

When they had first met at college, she was studying nutrition and he was doing metalwork. She talked all the time about books she’d read or programmes on the television about the supernatural. She didn’t seem to notice that Adam was only half-listening, captivated by the movement of her lips, her energy that seemed to ignite and propel him.

His family didn’t approve of her. They said that she was too different, but Adam didn’t care. Their objections sounded irrelevant and too late. After the wedding, Elaine started teaching yoga in the local centre. Neither of her pregnancies deterred her. She opted for a natural birth each time and used essential oils to cope with the pain. Her interest in alternative medicine started then. Throughout the years she breastfed the girls, she was reading and studying for a long-distance aromatherapy qualification.

Adam was the one who converted the attic into a treatment room. He put shelves on the walls and carried up the special massage bed. In no time, Elaine managed to cram the whole wall with crystals, burners, jars and bottles. Her clients trooped up the stairs, ignoring Adam as he sat watching Disney DVDs with the girls. Elaine’s business was picking up but she let the housework slide. Under Adam’s bare feet, the carpet was gritty with cereal and crumbs.

‘When was the last time you hoovered?’ he called up to her. He was already opening the utility cupboard to get the vacuum cleaner.

She skipped down the stairs, her eyes bright and almost breathless. ‘I saw an angel,’ she said. ‘A little angel flying past. He came to take a bad vibe away.’

The next weekend she went away to a meditation retreat. A month later she spent a whole week at a psychic fair and came back with a photo of her aura captured by a special camera. Adam stared at the red, yellow and green lights billowing around her familiar face. ‘You look like a witch,’ he said.

Elaine gave him a fierce look. ‘I consulted a psychic. She told me I have the healing gift.’

‘But you know that already,’ he said. ‘You’ve helped so many people.’ She had helped him too, massaging the small of his back with lavender essence mixed with warm jojoba oil.

‘There’s more,’ she said. ‘The psychic said my healing guide is a Red Indian. And another is a Somali warrior.’

Adam snorted. ‘You’re wasting good money on these sessions. You need to focus on your work.’