‘Well done,’ Andy says, as she joins him at the other end. ‘You’ve got it.’

They get out of the pool and he puts his hand on her shoulder as they walk to the changing rooms, but not in a creepy way. ‘Shame the sauna isn’t open. It’s always good after a swim.’

She walks through the female door and catches sight of herself in the full wall mirror. Her cheeks are glowing and, for once, her mind doesn’t fall into negative hate thoughts about her tummy or arms, because her mind is occupied by what Andy has just said. Was he flirting with her? Was he saying that he wanted to have a sauna with her?

A sauna? Christ, that would be sexy.

She hasn’t had a sexual thought about anyone other than Pim (and not really about Pim either) for so long that it’s a shock to feel her libido saying hello. But there it is.

Wow.

She’s home from the pool in plenty of time before school starts. The boys are still asleep, by the looks of it, as their curtains are shut.

‘How was it?’ Pim asks, coming up behind her as she puts her bag in the utility room. ‘You went at the crack of dawn.’

‘Hard,’ she admits. ‘But good.’

Dare she tell him about sexy Andy? That he’d been flirting with her? Might he see her differently if he realised his wife was admired by another man?

She suddenly decides that this is it – she’s going to press herself against him and kiss him. She’s going to get their sex life back on track. She steps towards him.

‘It’s nice to feel healthy. More alive, you know …’

He smiles and she reaches out to touch his ancient towelling dressing gown, letting her hands loosen the belt. He looks surprised, but happy about it. She takes a step closer, revelling in how thrilling this unexpected bit of foreplay is. She knows that it’s crazy … absurd to arouse her husband when the boys will be down any minute, but her hand starts to travel south.

But suddenly there’s a deafening noise of a chainsaw right outside and they stare at each other.

‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ Pim says, stepping away and re-knotting the dressing gown cord. He flings open the back door. The noise is horrific. Sawdust fills the air.

Right above them, there’s a workman in a harness sawing through the branches of Jenna and Rob’s cherry tree. Seeing them he grins and touches the rim of his red hard hat. As if he’s doing them a favour. Claire tries to shout at him, but he can’t hear her, so she rushes upstairs to the landing window.

It takes her a while to locate the key to open it, but then she flings it open. She’s now more on a level with the workman.

‘Stop,’ she shouts. ‘Stop it right now.’

The workman puts his hand to his ear, as if he can’t hear her, but she waves at him and the noise of the chain saw cuts out for a moment. ‘You can’t chop it down. The birds are nesting there.’