James was taking her out to lunch again today. This would be the third time, and she’d found she’d begun to relax in his company. For once she could just be an adult – rather than a mother or wife – and their conversations ranged far and wide. The only time she’d dared to ask about his private life, though, he’d avoided her question and made no mention of his daughter.

‘I’m a divorcee,’ he’d said. ‘I live alone with a crabby old cat called Monty.’ Then he’d smiled and added, ‘Really I’m a pretty boring old fart. Let’s talk about you. What are your ambitions?’

He liked asking her big questions. The sort that only had answers in her dreams, because reality was never going to allow her to achieve them. But more importantly, he listened to her replies, seemed properly interested in her as a person, and it made her realise what a long time it had been since Matt had listened to her like that. These days, their conversations were little snippets, sound bites between dealing with children or going to work, coming back from work. She couldn’t even remember the last time they’d been out together as a couple without the children. Her lunches with James made it very clear that her relationship with Matt was in the doldrums and needed some serious attention if things were going to improve. But there was no time, no space, no opportunity, and it added to the pile of worries that were collecting in her mind, a mental in-tray that was full to overflowing.

James took her to the same pub every time, as it was nice and quiet, and it was unlikely that anyone Sara knew would be there at that time of day.

‘I need to ask you about tomorrow,’ she said when he arrived back at their table with drinks.

‘Yes, I was wanting to talk to you about that too.’ He placed her half of beer in front of her before sitting opposite, raising his own glass in a silent toast and taking a sip.

Sara gave him a relieved smile.

‘You first,’ he said.

‘Mainly… I was wondering what to wear. How fancy will it be?’ Actually, she was panicking because she literally had nothing suitable for a business dinner. The best she could do was smart casual, as all her dresses had been bought before she’d had Ezra and acquired a few more inches round her middle and thighs. She would have to go out and buy something, hopefully from a charity shop so it wouldn’t break her meagre budget.