Is that right? My jaw twitched. ‘Didn’t Saxon take him?’ This task was part of his requirements to get his allowance.

‘Saxon hasn’t left his bedroom the whole time you’ve been away.’

No wonder Charlie was acting like a lunatic. ‘Down boy!’

He recoiled slightly and I stooped to give him a proper welcome. It wasn’t his fault that his basic needs had been ignored. And I didn’t care if Adrian was having some kind of midlife crisis, he couldn’t forget his responsibilities, which meant reminding Saxon of his! Not even waiting to unpack my shopping, I grabbed my phone and started a message to my husband. So much for sending naked selfies; right now, I wanted to make a voodoo doll of him and stick it with needles.

Part of our bargain was that you would make sure—

‘Um, what are you doing?’ I asked, pausing my typing as I watched Payton scoop ice-cream into a large glass and then pour Fanta from a can over the top of it.

Since when did we have soft drinks in the house?

‘What does it look like I’m doing?’

Payton loved spiders—the drink, not the eight-legged variety—but they were a special treat, not an everyday after-school snack. ‘You know you’re not allowed soft drink except on special occasions.’

Sticking a pink straw in the top of her drink, she said, ‘Dad lets me have whatever I want after school.’

I raised my eyebrows—almost backing down because I didn’t want her to like Adrian better than me. At the last moment, common sense prevailed. I wasn’t here to be liked, I was here to raise healthy, well-balanced children. ‘Well, I’m back now and when it’s my week, it’s my rules.’

I held out my hand for the ice-cream and soft-drink concoction. ‘You can have some fruit and cheese and crackers if you’re hungry.’

‘I don’t want stupid fruit. Daddy’s so much nicer than you,’ Payton cried, all but throwing the glass at me as she ran off. Her bedroom door slammed a few moments later and I stood there wondering what the hell had happened to my sunny-natured girl.

She’d always been a little precocious, but she’d never been so blatantly awful to me. If she or Saxon had even come close to such disrespect, Adrian had always pulled them up—‘Don’t speak to your mother like that!’

I squeezed my eyes tight, trying to ward off more tears. I couldn’t blame Payton for acting up—as much as it broke my heart, her behaviour was normal for a child who felt unsettled by her home situation. Why couldn’t Adrian see what his selfish actions had done?