‘I’d better go and see how the kids are doing,’ she said, giving Matt’s shoulder a reassuring rub. At least he’d stopped sobbing now and seemed calm enough for her to feel comfortable leaving him on his own for a few minutes. ‘I’ve left the girls keeping an eye on Ezra, and you know how that can work out.’ She checked her watch. ‘I need to get him into bed, anyway.’

Matt didn’t respond, lost in his woes, his gaze fixed on the floor.

Sara hurried out of the garage and into the house, stopping when she saw the deserted kitchen. She checked the plates, and was relieved to see that Ezra seemed to have eaten most of his food. She found him curled up on the settee, watching a cartoon that one of the girls must have put on for him. I must remember to thank them. Maybe I don’t do that enough? However distant she might feel her daughters had become, they always helped with Ezra when she asked, and she wanted them to know she appreciated their efforts.

A ping on her phone alerted her to a text message. Hailey again.

Saw he came home. Assuming all okay? Had to dash off to an emergency.

What could she say? Far too much to fit into a text message, and there was no point trying to explain when Hailey was distracted by a crisis with one of her service users. She sent a quick reply.

Talk tomorrow. Thanks for your help x

She was too shell-shocked to speak to her sister tonight, and by tomorrow she would have had time to think about things. Her head was spinning with the enormity of it. How easy it had been to assume that life would go on as it always had. That they would have Matt’s steady stream of income. What if he doesn’t get a job? A little shiver ran through her, the ghosts of her past flashing through her mind. It didn’t bear thinking about, because he’d been right – even if she did go full-time, her wages would only scratch the surface of their living costs.

With her mind on money, she ran upstairs to their bedroom, where she kept all the household paperwork in an old desk. It doubled as a dressing table, a large mirror hanging on the wall above, with a shelf for make-up so she had the desktop clear to work on. She was the administrator of the household, and Matt didn’t know where anything was kept, leaving all that side of things to her. Hurrying to the desk, she found the envelope and ripped it open, scanning the piece of paper inside.

It wasn’t a statement; it was a letter.