He kissed the top of her head. ‘I’m making progress, shifting everything around.’ His upbeat mood rang in his voice, and Sara’s queasiness returned. ‘I think it’ll make the perfect workspace for me. I’m going to get security glass for the window, you know, with bars in, so I’ll have a bit of natural light. A good, solid door.’

His hand stroked the top of her arm as he spoke, tender and loving, his excitement fizzing in the air. She hated herself for what she’d done, couldn’t force her mouth to form the words she needed to say. Instead, she let him chatter on about his plans. ‘I’ve rung Ash – you know, from footie – and he’s going to come and put a couple of extra electric points in, see what we can do with the lighting.’

He was desperate to do this. It was his dream, and she knew what moving towards a dream felt like, even if hers hadn’t quite materialised yet. She couldn’t take this anticipation from him, she just couldn’t. Nausea stirred in her stomach again and she jumped up, ran back upstairs. She couldn’t tell him. Not tonight.

Chapter Nine

The following day, she was up early and out of the house while the chaos of the morning routine was in full swing, making sure there was no time for Matt to ask her about money. She’d decided, as a last-ditch attempt to pull this back, that she’d have a word with Fiona, see if she knew anywhere that might be able to give her a quick loan at a good rate. It seemed like a long shot – mission impossible – but she was running out of options. A headache already thumped at the base of her skull.

As soon as she was settled at her desk, the centre still quiet at this early hour, she started researching loan companies, appalled at the interest rates. The more she thought about it, and how much the repayments might be, the more she understood it was a non-starter.

The arrival of the yoga teacher, quickly followed by her students, made her focus on her job, and the morning became too busy for her to think about her own problems. It was only the appearance of Matt and Ezra at lunchtime that brought her back to reality.

‘I thought we could go out for lunch,’ Matt said, as Ezra clambered onto her knee, desperate for a cuddle.

Her skin prickled, her mind desperately searching for an excuse not to go.

‘I’m really sorry,’ she said, pointing to a pile of receipts on the desk. ‘We’re way behind with the accounts and James asked me to prioritise inputting all these today, but this morning’s been mad and I haven’t even started yet.’ She forced an apologetic smile. ‘It’s a lovely idea, but I don’t think I can. Not today.’