As the train neared Greenwich station, both girls chatted in between him and Maddy. He gazed out of the window at the passing back gardens. Were those people’s lives as complicated as his? He’d told Ali and Jamie he was decorating more houses in Manchester for a couple of days. He’d given up trying to think of new ways to persuade her to have an abortion, and now she was too far gone. Would she really have planned it on purpose? These days she only seemed interested in spending his money, which was fast running out. His last credit card bill was higher than he was ever going to be able to pay back. And if she asked him once more if they were going to get married… He clenched his teeth. He would have, once, long ago, if he could have stayed and been accepted as her boyfriend instead of being driven away by her dad. But then he’d never have met Maddy, and that was unthinkable.

Maddy was gazing across at the window too, lost in her own thoughts, he guessed. Good, dependable Maddy. The most caring mother and loving wife. What a shit husband he’d turned out to be. She didn’t deserve it. He pressed his fingers to his forehead. Would he ever be able to dig himself out of this mess without hurting everyone?

They got off at Greenwich station and walked to the National Maritime Museum for the special exhibition to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. He wished his gran could have been there with them. She’d told him how she’d watched it on their neighbour’s new black and white television. How thrilling it was to see it and how she’d become fascinated with the moon for the rest of her life.

‘Exactly fifty years ago today, the first man walked on the moon,’ he told Emily and Chloe as they went in, ‘and your great gran watched it on television as it happened. Isn’t that amazing? My dad was just a little boy.’

‘You’ve told us a zillion times, Daddy,’ Emily said and both girls giggled.

‘Well, I’m excited.’ He laughed.

‘We can tell,’ Maddy said, threading her arm through his. The girls sat in front of them on a bench, watching a video of a total eclipse of the moon. Maddy pulled him closer. ‘I went to see the doctor yesterday,’ she whispered.

‘Sorry, I meant to ask how it went.’ How could he have forgotten? She’d been complaining of tiredness and nausea recently. What if it was something serious?

‘I’ve been meaning to change my coil for ages, but the doctor says it had become dislodged.’

‘Oh, is that painful?’ An infection again. He was relieved it was nothing worse.

‘It means it wasn’t working properly.’ She put her hand on his leg and suddenly couldn’t stop smiling at him.