‘Nest parenting,’ I said, and nodded. ‘I never thought I’d agree to having one full week away from Saxon and Payton, but I have to think of what’s best for them. Part of that is them not having to move from somewhere Adrian lives to somewhere I do whenever we switch custody, but it’s also still spending as much time as possible with each of us.’ I swallowed and took another sip of wine. ‘However I feel about Adrian right now, I wouldn’t want our break-up to jeopardise his relationship with the kids any more than I want it to hurt mine. This is the fairest situation on everyone, and although I don’t relish the idea of having to maintain a civil relationship with him, I’ll do whatever I can for my children.’

‘That’s very admirable,’ Dan said.

I shook my head. ‘Not really. My parents had a super messy divorce, but even before that I can only remember them hating each other. I used to hide under my bed when they had screaming matches in the kitchen.’

‘Was there abuse?’ Dan’s forehead creased.

‘No, not physical, but definitely verbal and emotional, and I never wanted that for my children. I still don’t. What about you? What was your childhood like?’

‘Not idyllic. My mum died when I was five. She suffered an aneurysm at my party.’

‘Oh my God.’ I felt like an idiot—here I’d been hoping for something happy to lift the mood, but I’d totally forgotten about his mother. And while I’d already heard this from Gail, I didn’t know how or when it had happened. Hearing the words uttered from Dan’s mouth only made it more tragic. My heart ached. Poor Dan, sharing his actual birthday with the anniversary of his mum’s death.

‘It was a pretty crap birthday,’ he said with a shrug, ‘but I was young, so I don’t remember much about her. Dad worked a lot and hired a lot of nannies to look after Gemma, Ben and me, but as we got older, we just kinda looked after each other. They remember our mother, they try to share memories of her with me, but it’s not the same.’ He took a long sip of wine. ‘Her death lingered in our house growing up though—Dad wasn’t around much. I think he worked to escape his grief. My brother and sister are closer to him, because they had his attention before Mum died.’

‘When did he remarry?’ I asked.

‘Only recently.’ He thought a moment. ‘I think it’s coming up to two years. Gemma’s worried she’s only after Dad’s money, but Ben says as long as he’s happy again, he doesn’t care.’

‘And you?’