Fortunately, their mum, Jeanette – who along with their dad, Graeme, had taken Lou’s side in the row – was less strict with her privacy settings. Her cover photo was a picture of Jude, Scotty and Mae on a picnic blanket in the back garden of the Nevilles’ house near Portsmouth. It was impossible for Maggie not to be rankled by it – her parents had done little to support Lou over the years, disapproving of her having three children by three different men, yet all of a sudden they were happy to do the dutiful grandparents bit. Their hypocrisy made it easier for her to not miss them since they’d cut her off too.

Sighing, Maggie clicked off her mum’s profile. She had no idea whether Lou and the kids were staying with her parents or if they had a place of their own by now. It made her miserable to think they could be carving out a new life that she knew nothing about. Would Mae, a two-year-old, even remember who she was if she saw her now?

But she knew she only had herself to blame. Twelve years previously, when she was seventeen, she’d had an affair with Lou’s fiancé, an unemployed twenty-year-old called Jerome. Lou was pregnant with Jude at the time. When Jerome was killed in a road traffic accident while the affair was ongoing, Maggie, grief-stricken and wracked with guilt, had vowed her sister must never find out.

But Lou had, seven months ago, by chance. And on discovering the betrayal she had moved away from Mansell with the kids, saying she could no longer bear to live in the same town as Maggie, much less have anything to do with her. It didn’t matter how long ago the affair took place, it was the fact that it had, and the fact that Maggie had continuously lied to her.

Feeling shaky just thinking about it and in need of comfort, Maggie called Umpire. He was still in his office.

‘I’m glad you called. I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. Sarah’s changed her mind about this weekend.’

‘Are you serious? What about Brighton?’

Sarah was Umpire’s ex-wife and the mother of Flora and Jack. This weekend should’ve been his turn to have the children, but he’d asked to swap as a one-off because it was Maggie’s thirtieth and Sarah had agreed. Umpire would then have them two weekends in a row.

‘She’s saying she’s had a think about it and thinks for the kids’ sake we should stick to the agreed custody plan.’

‘What did you say?’

‘I had to say yes. It’s the kids. Look, I know it’s disappointing, but we’ll still have the dinner on Friday on your actual birthday, then we’ll rearrange Brighton for another weekend.’