‘No,’ Ben agreed. ‘Shall we have a cup of tea? We can still keep an eye on Elodie from the kitchen, not that she’ll even notice we’ve moved.’ He smiled indulgently at Elodie, who seemed transfixed by her new toy.

Jo scurried back into the kitchen and made two mugs of tea. She put them on the island and perched opposite Ben. ‘So how are you, darling? How are you coping with everything?’

Ben took a sip of his tea, which was exactly how he loved it – strong, not much milk and very hot. It struck him that he couldn’t remember Bella ever making him a cup of tea. It was always the other way round. ‘I’m OK, Mum. Look, I’m sorry I haven’t been to see you. It’s …’ he paused, wondering how much to say. ‘It’s difficult sometimes.’

‘Bella doesn’t like me.’ Jo’s voice was flat with resignation.

Ben sighed. ‘To be fair, Bella doesn’t really know you. But she has … well, I guess you’d say she has issues. I don’t know for sure because she never talks about it, but probably relating to her childhood and her dad, I think. She needs to feel in control … When other people are in the picture, it makes her feel unsettled and insecure. She just wants the three of us to be in our own little cocoon, I suppose.’ He thought back to the night when he had suggested that there were four of them in that cocoon, if you included Bella’s lover, and the rage it had provoked in her. The memory made him shudder.

‘And what about you? Is that what you want?’ There was a deep frown line between Jo’s eyebrows, as she gazed at him intently.

Ben chewed the inside of his cheek as he thought about what to say. ‘I want Elodie to feel secure. To have two parents in her life.’ He took a sip of tea to buy him some thinking time. He was struggling to answer the question without giving away that he had absolutely no choice in the matter. What he wanted was irrelevant – Bella had always made that perfectly clear. ‘So in order to maintain the status quo, I’ve learned that it’s probably best to go along with what Bella wants, rather than causing an argument. It’s just not worth the hassle that follows.’

‘Hassle’ was such an inappropriately lightweight word to describe what happened when he put a foot out of line. For a moment, he imagined the delicious relief of telling Jo everything, but it would cause her unimaginable worry and he couldn’t bear to hurt her any more. The pain of not seeing them very often wasn’t a fraction of what she’d feel if she knew the reality of his day-to-day life.

Jo dropped her gaze and looked into her mug. Ben could see that her lip was quivering. ‘I can cope with not seeing you …’ she began, choosing her words carefully. ‘But only if I think you’re happy.’ She looked back up and met Ben’s eye. ‘Are you happy, Ben?’