He nodded, still staring at the wall as if he was in a trance. ‘We lost that big contract. A major bit of work for a government department.’ His voice was thick and weary. ‘They just pulled it without warning. A change in policy, would you believe? They’ve spent millions building this system, but there’s a new project team, and when they looked at all their budgets, they decided to mothball it.’

The bottle slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor, spinning off under the sofa. She flinched, startled by the noise. He didn’t seem to notice, though, his eyes still fixed on the blank screen in front of him.

‘The company has overstretched itself, apparently. Didn’t read the warning signs. Everyone’s been laid off.’ He turned to her and she could see that his eyes were brimming, chin quivering, his emotions barely under control. ‘They’ve gone bust. There’s no redundancy pay. Probably no salary this month.’ He leant forwards, elbows on his knees, head hanging between his shoulders. ‘That’s it,’ he mumbled to the floor. ‘I’m unemployed.’

Sara laid her head on his shoulder and rubbed his back, trying to think of something soothing to say while her mind started doing mental arithmetic, adding up their monthly outgoings. They had a mortgage. An overdraft. Credit cards. Two car loans. Three kids. None of that was cheap. A surge of panic flowed through her, bringing her out in a cold sweat. How are we ever going to manage? What if we can’t?

Images from her childhood flooded into her mind, her and her sister being picked up by the ladies from social services. ‘Just for a couple of weeks. Think of it as a holiday,’ her mum had said. ‘Until I get everything sorted.’ But things never did get sorted and they boomeranged between being at home with their mother and living with foster parents. It happened three times, until the new caseworker decided that their mother shouldn’t ever be given responsibility for her children. Sara was ten at the time, and the next eight years were spent with four different families, always an outsider and always resented by the foster parents’ natural children. She was alone, separated from her sister, because very few foster placements could take siblings, and anyway, Hailey was out of the care system four years before her. They did what they could to stay in touch, but geography and finances didn’t make it easy.

She pulled herself straight, a determined set to her jaw. That’s not going to happen to my family. It’s not.

Matt drew in a deep breath, his voice shuddering. ‘I’ve let you down, love. I promised to look after you and now… now, I can’t. I’m a failure.’