The dogs come sniffing round, panting in the sudden warmth. She pats her bump then pushes herself up and continues digging, eyes squinting until the low autumn sunshine switches off, the coolness returning. Amongst the clumps of earth, the stones and dust, a metal edge catches her eye. She picks it up. The sunshine switches on again like a spotlight. She loosens the disc from the mud. It’s a silver pendant. She slips off her gloves, turns the water-butt tap on and rinses it. An engraved letter ‘C’ emerges. She dries it on her jeans. Chloe lost it last summer. She hunted for it everywhere and cried on and off for days over the loss. They bought one for each of the girls. She stares at it, cupped in her hand. Tears fall easily from her eyes. Every day there is something to remind her that Chloe has gone. She gives it a kiss and tucks it in her pocket. Max promised to buy her a new one, but he never did.

A breeze picks up, blowing around in all directions, chilling her arms. She shivers and wipes her eyes and nose with Max’s cotton hanky from her pocket. One of many she’s borrowed and forgotten to give back. In the shed she finds the largest spade and slices into the earth like a guillotine. Her muscles burn as she digs deeper, shovelling the earth to one side. I trusted you, Max, how could you betray me?

When the last of the sunshine has gone, she slumps into a weather-faded chair and sips a glass of water. The velvet darkness of the black flowers draws her eye. Now the colour has been stripped from every bed, there’s a strange sense of calm, an acknowledgement that part of her has died too.

Sarah calls to her over the back gate.

‘Come in,’ Maddy sighs. She’d rather be on her own but doesn’t say so.

‘I wanted to check how you are, if you need anything?’ Sarah hovers beside her. Maddy guesses she can sense her prickly mood.

‘I’m coping,’ Maddy says, but is she? Grief plays tricks on her, lets her forget for a few moments then it’s a physical thump to her gut all over again. Max should be here helping her and Emily through this, they should be helping each other come to terms with losing Chloe.

‘When’s your next check-up with the midwife?’ Sarah reaches out then lets her hand drop down again.

‘In about two weeks, I can’t remember exactly.’ Her phone lights up as it buzzes in her pocket. She takes it out. The message is fixed on the locked screen.

Alison Wood has accepted your friend request.

Maddy holds her thumb down to unlock it. Sarah pretends she isn’t having a nosy at the message.

‘One of the mums at the clinic,’ Maddy tells her before she asks.

‘Good you’re making friends.’