Ben sighed. ‘No, Bella, I’m not sulking. I’m just trying to get my head around today. It’s been a horrible day.’

‘Yes, it has.’ Bella’s voice was a little quieter. ‘I’m glad it’s over.’

Ben didn’t reply.

‘And at least we’ve got the move to focus on now.’

‘Yes.’ Ben had been putting the house move to the back of his mind. He didn’t have enough room in his brain to think about it with everything else that had been going on. But there was no reason to delay it any longer and there was nothing to keep them in London, now that he no longer saw Matt and Freya. The plan was for him to give up his job and stay at home to look after Elodie, while Bella returned to work. It was a plan that he hadn’t had much say in and he knew that Peter would have strongly counselled against it. But Bella had decreed that that was what they were doing, so he had gone along with it to keep her happy. And in truth, he loved the idea of spending more time with Elodie and knew that he would be good at it, whereas Bella was clearly going stir-crazy being at home. He hoped that going back to work would make her less possessive and a bit more relaxed about him seeing his family and friends.

‘You know, maybe we shouldn’t move to Suffolk, after all?’ she said now, interrupting his thoughts. ‘Maybe Surrey would be better.’

Ben’s senses tingled with alarm at Bella’s tone, which he had heard many times before. It meant she wasn’t consulting him; she was telling him.

‘No, Bella. You were super-keen on Suffolk and being near my parents, so I don’t know why you’d suddenly change your mind. Anyway, it’s too late.’

Bella gave a dismissive wave of her hand. ‘Not necessarily. We can still pull out of the Suffolk house.’

‘No. You insisted on Suffolk, so that’s where we’re going. And I like the house. Plus, it’ll be good being so close to Mum, now that she’s on her own …’

Ben could sense Bella’s body stiffening beside him. He rarely stood up to her and almost always ended up backing down but he was determined that this was too important to just roll over the way he usually did.

‘It has to be a joint decision,’ she snapped.

‘It is a joint decision. We chose it together, remember?’ As he spoke, Ben realized that although he had been present for the viewings, he had had absolutely no say in the house she eventually picked. ‘Although, to be honest, you didn’t really give me much say in the choice, did you?’

Bella’s face clouded and her eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘Don’t play that card with me, Ben. While you’ve been dashing off to be at your mother’s beck and call, I’ve had to sort everything out by myself. So now I’ve decided that Surrey would be better instead.’