‘I know.’ Izzy doesn’t look up; there are neat comb marks in her hair, still wet from the shower. She has made herself tea and is sipping it delicately. Noah climbs out of his basket, anticipating food. There is no trace of the limp he had in the summer – just as well, she forgot to have him checked by the vet.

‘Could you ask your father if he can do the school run today, Izzy? I’d like Ash to sleep as long as possible, and Eric’s leaving soon.’

‘Daddy left hours ago.’ Izzy makes a careful crossing out. ‘In a rush.’

Paul rose early then, which is surprising. He’d been more drunk than anyone else; she has a vague memory of Eric helping him upstairs to bed.

‘We’ll just have to wake Ash then. We might be late for school this once, but it was a good party, wasn’t it?’

Izzy doesn’t reply. Eve drops bread in the toaster, takes milk and juice from the fridge, puts cereal on the table and finds bowls and mugs. She digs out some paracetamol capsules from the back of the cupboard, swallowing a couple down.

‘Toast’s burning,’ Izzy says as she rubs out and rewrites a word.

‘Shit.’

The toast is black. Eve puts more bread in the toaster and shakes dog food into the bowl. She hurries from the kitchen and calls up from the bottom of the stairs.

‘Eric?’

No answer, he must still be in the shower.

‘Poppy?’

‘What?’

‘Can you get Ash up for me?’

‘Do I have to?’

‘Yes, please. I’m getting breakfast; we need to leave in ten minutes.’

In the kitchen Izzy is texting; she looks up as smoke plumes from the toaster again. Eve bins the blackened slabs. Eight twenty. By now the traffic will be stationary. She phones the school but no one picks up; she is invited to leave a message. As she is talking, she notices Igor waiting for Eric by the truck in the rain, his hair plastered against his skull. She replaces the receiver and turns to call Eric at the same moment that Poppy appears at the kitchen door, shoeless, her hair uncombed. Izzy turns to look at Poppy too, her fair eyebrows raised.

‘Ash isn’t in his bed.’ Poppy looks very young. ‘I can’t find him anywhere.’

Melissa

No one is about; the weather has scared the usual runners away and the wet park feels peaceful. As she jogs around the pond for the second time, a message pings through on Melissa’s phone.

Eve’s busy, Dad’s left. Can you take us in?