‘That’s great news,’ she said, wanting to savour the loving mood, wondering if this was the silver lining to their crisis. Maybe it would bring them close again. She leant back against the worktop and caught hold of his hand, lacing her finger with his. ‘I’ve got good news as well. They’ve said I can have full-time hours at the community centre for a month. We need to catch up on everything that’s fallen behind with James being off.’

The smile fell from Matt’s face, replaced by a look of horror. He dropped her hand, took a step away from her. ‘But who’s going to look after Ezra? Childcare is way too expensive. Even the mornings he does now at the nursery cost a packet. It won’t be worth it.’ He shook his head. ‘No, I’m sorry, love, that’s not going to work.’

Sara tensed, annoyed that he was slapping down her efforts to help, to take a lead role for a change. And she’d been looking forward to being out at work a bit more, getting stuck in to some of the meatier projects they were developing at the community centre, instead of her head being filled with nursery rhymes and SpongeBob bloody SquarePants. She wasn’t ready to give that up. ‘You’re at home, though. You can pick him up from nursery, can’t you? Realistically, it could take a couple of months before you get another job.’

She went to the sink, ran herself a glass of water and gulped it down, just for something to do, to make her pause and consider her words, take the edge off her annoyance. It was all organised now and she’d feel stupid going back to Fiona and saying she couldn’t do the extra hours after all. Not when Fiona had bent over backwards to help her.

‘Actually, no, I can’t,’ he said, as if she was being awkward. She turned to look at him, the empty glass clasped tightly in her hand. He was animated, his eyes lit with excitement. ‘I’ve got a plan. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and I’ve been doing some research and I’m pretty convinced I can give it a real go.’

She scrunched up her nose, thoroughly confused. ‘I’m not sure I know what you mean.’ She scanned his face for clues but could only see the delight shining in his eyes. ‘You’ve been headhunted? Is that it?’ Relief bubbled inside her. A seamless transition from one job to another would be the ideal solution. Maybe she could work flexitime at the community centre, do a few hours in the evenings if she had to be home at lunchtime to pick up Ezra. Her mind sped along, reshaping her life around this new scenario.