‘You live so much closer to them, too,’ Jo continued, clearly desperate for Charlotte to agree. ‘So you could just pop down and if Bella’s there, you can try again the next day. It’s not such a mammoth exercise.’

‘I suppose not,’ Charlotte conceded, already feeling a frisson of excitement. She felt certain that only she would be able to tell if he was happy or not. She had always been able to read him so well. ‘OK, I’ll do it,’ she said, her heart already beginning to race.

Chapter Thirty-One

Ben was even quieter than usual, as we ate breakfast the morning after his ‘accident’ with the plate. He gently tended to Elodie and made me coffee exactly as I like it, but he barely spoke and seemed deep in thought.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye, looking for any physical signs of injury and was relieved to see that there were none, although he kept touching the back of his head and wincing slightly. ‘What have you got planned today?’ I asked him, as I prepared to leave the house.

He lifted his dark eyes to meet mine and shrugged. ‘Not much. I think we’ll go to the park after breakfast if it’s not too cold.’

I nodded, grateful that I wasn’t the one who had to fill my days trying to keep a toddler entertained. I felt a sudden burst of affection for him and reached up to hug him. Instinctively, he flinched. ‘For God’s sake, Ben, don’t be so jumpy! I was just going to kiss you goodbye.’

A nervous half-smile played around his lips as he stepped forward, allowing me to embrace him.

‘Mummy hug!’ Elodie demanded from her high chair, making both Ben and I laugh.

I walked over and kissed the top of her head. ‘’Bye ’bye, my little missy-moo. Love you!’

‘Love ’oo,’ she parroted back, beaming through her mouthful of cereal.

‘What about you?’ Ben asked, as he walked me to the front door. ‘What are you up to today?’

It sounded like a loaded question. I fixed him with my brightest smile. ‘Oh, same old, same old … I won’t be late, though,’ I added, meaningfully.

He nodded his understanding and, in a move that was extremely rare these days, he bent to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, glad that he didn’t seem to be holding a grudge. After he closed the door behind me, I hesitated on the step, feeling guilty. I had come perilously close to inflicting a serious injury on him last night and I needed to be careful. I didn’t love Ben but I didn’t quite hate him either. I just despised him. I decided that I needed to do some damage limitation for a while, just to make sure that I kept him where I wanted him.

After driving to the station, I caught the train into London, thinking about Leo. I would have to tell him that we needed to cool it for a little while. I didn’t want to. He was sexy, exciting and dangerous – all of the things that Ben wasn’t. But after last night, I needed to launch a charm offensive to get Ben back onside and if he thought I was still seeing Leo, it wouldn’t work. I needed to show him that I was serious about us as a couple. In the past, I had always been able to work my magic, but I somehow felt that the seriousness of last night’s fight could be harder to put behind us, not to mention the texts from Leo.