‘Hello Daddy,’ Emily said, standing on the bed, arms wide for a cuddle. He kissed her forehead and hugged her.

‘We finished the job up in Ely, so I came straight home.’ He winked.

Chloe got in bed next to Emily and picked up her comfort blanket. Maddy continued reading the part where Alice opens the little door and sees the beautiful garden.

Max crept out. In their bedroom, he changed his clothes. He’d been working such long hours since Chloe was born. They were a happy little trio, sometimes he felt left out, like he was intruding.

‘Your dinner is in the oven,’ Maddy called out to him from the landing.

He came and took Chloe from her but she was already asleep, so he carried her to bed.

Downstairs, Maddy took his dinner out and put it on a tray. The Cumberland sausage, sweet potato and peas looked dry, but he didn’t say anything. It had probably been cooked hours before.

‘Shall I make you gravy?’ she said, reading his mind.

‘Please.’ He took a Guinness out of the fridge and popped the can open. The kitchen table was full of crafting stuff, as usual; two painted animal masks cut from old cereal packets were drying on newspaper on one side and on the other stood a plastic tub full of old milk cartons cut in half and filled with earth.

‘What’s in those?’ he asked, pouring his drink into a glass.

‘We thought we’d grow our own sweet peppers on the windowsill,’ Maddy said. ‘I’ll have a glass of wine if you’re offering.’

Later, they sat in front of the television. Maddy turned over to Endeavour. He’d have preferred Top Gear.

Maddy picked up her knitting. She was always making or mending something and teaching the girls how to do it too. It was the sort of thing his gran used to do. Saving money and saving the earth, Maddy always said.