Fiona’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘That went well, didn’t it?’ She grinned as she packed a pile of paperwork into her bag.

Sara grimaced. ‘I’m not sure James was so happy.’

Fiona laughed. ‘Oh, that’s nothing to do with you. Well, not directly. I had to give him a bit of a bollocking, you see, for not keeping everything up to date. That’s why I made sure I got him in early, prepared the ground for making changes, so it would be easier to get him to agree to you having extra hours.’

The tension in Sara’s shoulders relaxed a little when she understood that his mood was not her fault. She followed Fiona downstairs, glad that at least she had some good news for Matt and there would be some extra money coming into the house. It’s not enough. Nowhere near enough, said a little voice in her head and a chill trickled down her spine when she thought of what might lie ahead.

Chapter Seven

Fiona had asked Sara to work the full day, instead of just the morning, as there were papers that needed preparing for a meeting. It seemed her full-time hours had started with immediate effect and she’d felt she couldn’t say no. She got home to find that Matt had tidied up, done some shopping and had a pasta bake in the oven. Ezra was asleep on the settee, and Sara bit back a comment about keeping him awake because it would be a hell of a struggle to get him to sleep later. It was going to take a bit of time to adjust, she counselled herself, and Matt wasn’t great at taking criticism. Too tired and anxious to be able to dance around any aggravation, she let it drop and wandered into the kitchen.

‘Smells delicious,’ she said, wondering what sort of mood he was in. He’d been silent and thoughtful before she’d left that morning, and snappy when she’d phoned to ask him to pick Ezra up from nursery because she was working the afternoon. But now he turned towards her with a big grin on his face. He opened his arms for a hug and held her tight, his cheek resting on top of her head as she relished the familiar warmth of him.

‘Sorry I was a bit grumpy,’ he murmured into her hair. ‘Losing my job was such a shock, and I’m still worried about how we’ll manage. But I spoke to the mortgage people and they’ve agreed we can have a repayment holiday for three months.’

Sara pulled away, looked into his smiling eyes. When did he last look at me like this? So long she couldn’t remember. Maybe the problems at work had been going on for longer than she’d thought.