‘Pizza for tea,’ Sara called up the stairs at the girls’ disappearing backs. ‘About an hour, okay?’ She watched the three of them hurtle round the corner and out of sight. Heard the bedroom door slam, excited chatter on the other side. What happened to teenagers? It was the weirdest thing. One minute they were all cuddly children wanting attention, the next it was like you had just stepped out of the grave and they couldn’t get away from you fast enough.

‘Mummy, come and watch with me,’ Ezra called from the lounge, where she could hear the familiar theme tune of a particularly annoying children’s programme. ‘It’s your favourite.’ She cringed. If she never heard that song again, she would count it as a major blessing.

‘Five minutes. I’m just going to make a cup of tea.’ She popped her head round the door, smiling when she saw her son already snuggled up with his cuddly Pikachu toy, which was his constant companion at home. ‘Do you want a drink?’ She could see his eyelids already at half-mast and knew it was going to be a struggle to keep him awake until bedtime. ‘How about a milkshake?’ Sugar and milk, the best of both worlds and her go-to solution at this time of day to give him enough of a boost to keep him conscious until after they’d eaten.

‘Thanks, Mummy,’ he said, voice drowsy, and she hurried to get him a drink before he nodded off.

Ten minutes later, his empty cup in hand, she drifted back into the kitchen to make her own cup of tea. She had just sat down at the table when her phone pinged. A text message. She checked and found it was from Hailey.

Matt left early, so following now.

Her pulse quickened. It doesn’t mean anything, she told herself. She checked her watch: just after 4 p.m. Bit late for a meeting. But he’d said he was working late, so perhaps it was an evening meeting – dinner with clients or something. It had happened quite a lot lately. If it was actually clients he was having dinner with. She busied herself with the laundry, putting another load on, hands shaking as she stuffed clothes into the machine.

Finally she heard another ping from her phone.

He’s gone to the pub. The Flying Duck.

Sara’s heart skipped. She called her sister, could hardly ask the question. ‘Is he on his own? Did he meet anyone?’

‘I’m not sure. It’s pretty quiet, but you know I can’t go in. I’m still banned after… well, you know…’