Surprisingly, he’d left our framed wedding photo on the dresser he’d found on the side of the road for me to restore, but aside from that the whole room felt barren, like I’d just stepped into a hotel room.

Desperate to feel some kind of normality, I fell onto our bed and pulled a pillow against me. I buried my head into it, hoping to smell him, but all my nose caught was the aroma of clean sheets. Changing the sheets every Monday morning had been our agreement and usually I delighted in fresh linen, but today it only made me cry as I thought about what I’d lost.

Would Adrian and I ever sleep together in this bed again?

For months I hadn’t been able to find much enthusiasm for sex, but now the possibility of it had been snatched from me, I felt bereft. If only I’d put out more maybe Adrian wouldn’t have left me. But my hollow feeling was about so much more than the sex. Would we ever laugh or share a fun moment together again? My eyes prickled and soon tears were cascading down my cheeks, my sobs so loud that Charlie came into the bedroom to investigate. He dropped his head onto the bed next to mine and whined.

‘It’s all right, boy,’ I said, reaching out to stroke him. ‘I’m fine.’

A total lie—I felt anything but fine. But I needed to pull myself together before Saxon and Payton came home to find me still lying on the bed, all maudlin.

10

‘Mum!’ Payton squealed as she rushed out of the classroom and threw herself into my arms.

‘Hey sweetheart.’ I squeezed her tightly, never wanting to let her go.

We’d seen each other only yesterday when I’d gone to watch her soccer game, but she’d been training before the whistle and Adrian had whisked her away almost immediately afterwards and I’d headed back to Hayley’s. Our time together hadn’t been nearly long enough, and it had also been overshadowed by the awkwardness between me and her father.

But I wasn’t going to think about that now. I wanted to make the most of every minute we had together.

‘Can we go get a milkshake?’ she asked as we walked towards the car.

‘I made a carrot cake for afternoon tea. Thought you might be wanting some home cooking.’

She shrugged. ‘Dad made a chocolate cake last night that I had in my lunch today. Please can we get a milkshake?’

I stopped dead in my tracks. ‘Your father made a chocolate cake? Out of a packet mix, right?’

‘No.’ She shook her head, her blonde pigtails jiggling. ‘He used the Thermomix but he made it from scratch. I watched him measure all the ingredients in and everything.’

Wonders never ceased. Obviously, I’d made a monumental error in leaving him with my most beloved kitchen appliance. Anyone could cook almost anything if they followed the instructions from the screen. Well, I wouldn’t make that mistake again—if things hadn’t returned to normal by next week, I’d be taking Thermie with me to Hayley’s apartment. It was mine after all. I still remembered how long it had taken me to convince Adrian it was a good investment. All the other mums at school were raving about them being a godsend and a timesaver, but he’d thought it an overpriced fad.