Family, she repeated to herself, as Jeanie smiled back and they agreed on a time. It felt as if a door had opened and Alison had just walked on through.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Frankie had barely got inside the flat, following her disastrous encounter with Julia, when Craig appeared in the hall, asking in a strange, tight voice where she’d been. And then she could tell immediately that she’d been rumbled, that he knew exactly where she’d been.

Thank goodness Fergus was there, charging down to greet her in his usual manner, by hurling himself at her legs while he shouted ‘Mumma!’ in the most flatteringly joyful way. Because of this, she was able to bend over to make a fuss of him for a brief few moments, her heart pounding as she cast about for how best to reply to Craig without sending him into a towering rage. It seemed, in fact, as if she’d been tiptoeing around him for days now – weeks – trying to keep him from exploding on her. Was this what it had been like for Julia? she wondered, taking her shoes off and allowing her hair to swing down and hide her face while she wrangled with her thoughts. She wanted the old Craig back, she thought to herself. The relaxed, easy-going Craig who’d made her feel happy rather than on edge.

‘Hi,’ she said coolly, straightening up, Fergus still clutching at her hand and trying to tell her about a pigeon he’d seen out of the window. She met Craig’s gaze squarely, noticing how clenched his jaw was. Oh God. Julia had told him, she realized, her heart sinking. Just look at the wounded betrayal in his eyes. ‘Everything all right here?’

‘I asked you where you’d been,’ he repeated, ‘because I had a very strange text while you were out.’ He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and read aloud: ‘Sending your girlfriend to meet me because you’re too scared? Lame!’ Then he looked across at Frankie; no need to say anything more.

‘I . . .’ Frankie felt lost for words at the intensity of his gaze. (Damn Julia, she thought crossly. Why did she insist on making herself so hard to like? When Frankie had only been trying to help matters, too.) ‘I thought it was a good idea,’ she replied weakly after a moment.

‘You thought,’ he repeated, ‘that it was a good idea.’ He folded his arms across his chest, his expression cold, and Frankie’s self-defence mechanism kicked right on in.

‘Yes, I did,’ she replied hotly. ‘Because by refusing to speak to her or go through mediation, you’ve completely driven her to this position. You’ve put her totally on the offensive – and no wonder. It should have been you going to talk to her like an adult, face-to-face, not me. And you should have done it right from the start!’