‘But you want it to be more?’

Maddy lets out a strangled laugh. ‘Oh God, Claire. I don’t know. I definitely fancy him, but I’m too shy to make the first move. It just feels like such a huge step to take.’

‘You’re overthinking it,’ Claire says.

‘Am I?’

And as Claire sits, watching Maddy make coffee for them, she feels like she used to with her sisters when they were teenagers. She loves it that Maddy values her opinion and wants her advice.

‘God, I don’t know what I’d do without you lot to keep me sane,’ Maddy says.

35

Home in a Box

Thanks to Maddy’s @made_home Instagram fame, there’s been a flurry of interest since the house hit the market. It’s on for a healthy price, but once Trent has paid back the exorbitant loan he’s taken out, there’ll hardly be anything left over.

Trent’s excited about the cash buyer from London and Maddy has only been home a few hours when he announces that they’re coming for a second viewing and ‘today will be the day’. She hates him wanting the sale to happen so much.

Nevertheless, Maddy steels herself, trying to present a united front with Trent, when the banker and his Melania Trump lookalike younger wife arrive in a Ferrari, scattering the gravel over the flower beds.

They wander slowly through the rooms, Melania running her talons over Maddy’s carefully selected furniture, her face impassive and unmoving. She leans in close to the banker, her hand on his shoulder as she towers over him. Maddy can’t hear what she’s whispering in his ear. Do they like the house or don’t they? What gives them the right to sneer? She feels her spine tingling with indignation.

She’s about to snap, but Trent stops her. ‘Be patient. Please,’ he hisses, through the side of his mouth. ‘They’re our best hope.’

Trent invites the couple to join them on the patio for a glass of bubbly, although it’s rather premature. It’s all Maddy can do not to flinch when Trent puts his hand on her knee, as if they are the perfect couple. It’s a sunny spring day – the kind that promises summer. The kind that would be perfect for a swim. She pictures her friends striding into the sea without her.

The bird of paradise plants she’s been waiting for to bloom are finally out, their orange flowers bright against the blue sky, and she realises that all of her careful garden planning is going to be enjoyed by someone else. That’s if they don’t rip out all of her planting and the sapling trees that cost a fortune. These two look like the type who might concrete over all the beds.

Trent is giving them the kind of charm-offensive schmooze that always makes her want to dial out. So she almost chokes when the banker suddenly breaks into a smile and announces that they’ll take the house for the asking price. Cash. And they’ll negotiate for the furniture. She can see that it takes every ounce of self-control for Trent not to punch the air, but she has to turn away to stop them seeing the tears in her eyes.