‘Fine,’ I said bitterly. ‘The house has been immaculate each week and I haven’t found any evidence of takeaway containers or anything else that tells me he’s broken our rules. Oh, except that he’s letting the kids run free on sugary drinks and after-school snacks.’

‘He’s probably just feeling guilty and trying to bribe them, so they don’t blame him for deserting you all.’

‘Well, so far it’s working,’ I pouted, explaining about the spider.

‘Payton’s not stupid and neither is Saxon. The novelty will wear off soon. For all of them.’

‘I hope you’re right. Have you spoken to him much? Do you know …’ I shut my mouth before I asked the question I both wanted the answer to and didn’t, but Hayley knew me so well she could read my mind.

‘I dropped around when you were away last week. He didn’t mention any women, but … well, he probably wouldn’t tell me, considering our friendship. Brad told me Adrian is on Tinder though.’

I closed my eyes and slumped in my seat. I knew all about Tinder from the single mums at school. If my husband was on it, he’d almost certainly bonked somebody else by now and wine curdled in my stomach at the thought. Had he enjoyed it? Was it better than our sex had ever been?

Hayley tossed me a sympathetic smile. ‘It’s only been a few weeks. Being a single man about town is still a novelty; give him a bit more time and he’ll remember how much he loves you. He’ll probably be begging you to take him back.’

Despite what she said, I knew she thought I’d be an idiot to do any such thing, but I couldn’t just throw away over two decades of my life because my husband lost the plot for a while, could I? After all, we were only human. Everyone made mistakes.

‘Well, I don’t think I should hold my breath,’ I said, feeling as if my marriage was slipping between my fingers. I wanted to do something to fix it but didn’t know what. Pity there wasn’t an app for that like there seemed to be for everything else these days.

‘I guess this means you’ll be staying with me next week?’

‘If you don’t mind,’ I replied, not wanting to cramp Hayley and Wei’s style.

‘Of course I don’t mind. You’re my best friend and you’re family. You’re welcome as long as you need.’

‘Thanks.’ But my voice broke on that one word because that was the thing—I didn’t want to need another place to stay. I wanted to stay here with my husband, our two gorgeous kids and our adorable dog.