I quickly paused behind my desk to scribble down an idea in my notebook before it vanished. A podcast of ASMR bedtime stories for adults, especially adults who had to sleep with earphones in every night. Well, not every night, I thought, looking up at John, who was holding the door open for everyone. Officially speaking, we were still taking it slow, but the toothbrush in his bathroom and the drawer of my things beside his bed certainly had a sense of speed about them.

I was cautious, I was taking things day by day, but I was also fairly sure I was in love.

‘Ready?’ he asked as our friends assembled on the pavement outside, laughing and whooping and then scolding each other on behalf of the baby.

I looked at him, I looked at Sumi, Adrian and Lucy and at the October sun, starting to set against the London sky. And then I turned to gaze lovingly at my office, my desk, my chair, my mug. It was all starting to come together.

Picking up my bag, I slid the strap across my body and straightened my hair before taking John’s hand in mine.

‘Yes,’ I said with a smile. ‘I’m ready.’

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

They say it takes a village to raise a child and I say it takes a medium-sized city to make a book, perhaps something like Birmingham or Seville.

Firstly, thank you to my agent, Rowan Lawton, the greatest cheerleader in the land. I could not and would not want to do this without you.

I owe so many thanks to my HarperCollins family, it’s hard to know where to start. To Lynne Drew, without whom there would be no book (and not just this one, literally there would be no Lindsey Kelk books, full stop), thank you for all your wisdom, guidance and support. Martha Ashby, your keen Yorkshire eye is always appreciated. Felicity Denham, you’re the best at what you do and I could not appreciate you more. I might be sat in a room, pouring my guts into a laptop but it takes killer editorial, sales, rights, marketing, publicity, production, art, design, logistics and legal teams to make sure this book finds its way into your hands. I’m lucky to be held together by some of the very finest out there, in the UK and all over the world.