Her gut wrenches as she imagines Max stretched out on the king-size bed, Alison beside him, opening the small blue box. Then it’s her father lying there with Lisa, while her mum was only a matter of yards away across the road. All those times she dreamed of dropping a match through Lisa’s letterbox. She wishes she’d done it the night he died of a heart attack in her bed, so her mum hadn’t had to endure the humiliation. Everyone seeing his body being carried out of another woman’s house the next morning.

All it takes is a sharp tug to snap the delicate silver chain in half.

The roar of an engine splits the silence. Out of the bedroom window, she watches Natty drive off in her old estate car. Downstairs, Poppy is waiting for her. She sits on the bottom stair and strokes his tummy. He needs more than a walk: he needs to be loved and properly cared for. She picks up the lead and clips it to his collar. She locks the front door from the inside and takes Poppy out the back, leaving the kitchen door and side gate ajar and walks him across the road. He has no qualms about leaping into her car. Once she’s attached his lead to a seatbelt, he settles down with a biscuit. Poor neglected boy. We’ll look after you. She goes back to the front garden with a screwdriver and screws a thin piece of wire across the gate, two inches from the ground.

On the drive home, she switches on the radio. Mum’s favourite song ‘Baby Come To Me’ by Patti Austin and James Ingram is on. She shivers. It’s playing just for her. In the rear-view mirror she mouths thank you. She turns it up loud and sings along to the chorus.

This is it. Her stomach fizzes. She knows what she needs to do. It’s the definitive sign she’s been waiting for.

Chapter Fifty-Two

Max: December 2017

On Christmas Eve, Max, Maddy and the girls caught an evening train home after seeing Dick Whittington at the London Palladium. Maddy had been planning it for months. She’d been so excited for the girls to go to the theatre and see the Christmas lights, like she did with her parents. They’d chatted all the way home about how funny the show was, until Chloe fell asleep in Max’s lap and Emily snuggled under Maddy’s arm.