Her giving Matt the money had energised him, and he’d set about organising his new business with a focus and commitment she hadn’t known he possessed. In fact, in the last couple of weeks, she’d hardly seen him. As soon as she came home, they’d eat and then he’d head off into his office and work all evening, having had to pick up Ezra from nursery and look after him for the afternoon. The pattern of their life was like a game of tag, but he was happy and that was the important thing, their argument a thing of the past while he was focused on their future.

He won’t even notice if I go out for the evening, she thought, as she scurried out of the office on the pretext of making coffee while she let the ramifications percolate through her mind. Hailey would be happy to come and keep an eye on the kids for a few hours, and she made a mental note to ring her, prime her for babysitting duties. Shall I tell her? she wondered as she spooned coffee into cups and filled them from the water heater. No, she decided, shocked that she’d even considered it. No way could she tell her sister what she’d done. She could hear her now, shouting at her, disgust in her voice. ‘Have you learned nothing from our childhood? From what Mum went through?’

It appeared that in some ways she hadn’t. In fact, she could understand why her mum had made some of the decisions that had led her into trouble, always trying to do what was best for her children, even if it was illegal, or had horrible consequences. She’d done it for them, and although it had backfired on more than one occasion, she’d always felt the risk was worth taking. Or maybe she’d found herself backed into a corner and her choices had narrowed down to one? Her mum used to say she was the unluckiest person on earth. Hailey thought she was reckless, lacking something in her make-up that alerted her to unacceptable risk. She and Sara had talked about it many a time, promising each other they wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

It’s not the same, Sara told herself as she stirred milk into the steaming coffee. I’m just doing a lonely guy a favour, that’s all. She replayed James’s words in her mind and nodded to herself. A couple of nights out at business dos. No harm in that, and it was certainly better than the alternative. It’s only temporary, she reminded herself, until I can pay him back.