She didn’t give a reason, best not to complicate it. If Tiff returned the text asking what she was doing, she’d say she needed some time alone – wanted to get the bus into town without stressing about the pram and Noah screaming.

Her phone pinged.

I’m sorry, I can’t today. So much on, lots of prep for the school end of term party. Hope all OK. xx

Louisa stared at the phone. Another brush-off. It could purely be that she was busy; organising stuff was her priority. But it was the tone of the message that wasn’t right. Tiff was usually far more flouncy, her texts longer, gushier. And she’d usually give an alternative, like: I can’t do today, but what about tomorrow? Something was going on.

Louisa started typing a message back but gave up. She didn’t even know what she wanted to say. She’d go with Noah. She’d have to.

The baby-changing bag was fit to bursting. Louisa had filled it with everything she could think of to make the journey as stress-free as possible, but her muscles immediately tensed at the thought of catching the bus. It was never easy to get the pram folded with Noah in one arm, and her bag in the other. She’d done it once since Noah was born, and it’d been an experience she didn’t want to repeat. She’d previously assumed that, living a small village, people would rush to help her. But no. Those already on the bus watched her in what appeared to be either amusement or pity as she struggled on board. They were elderly, mostly, so she guessed they could be forgiven. But the bus driver – well, he’d been plain rude, tutting at her as she dropped her bag, crashing the half-folded pram against the side of the bus. Get out and fucking help me then! She’d been close to screaming at him.

As she bumped the pram down the steps of the house onto the pavement, Louisa hoped today’s journey would be better. The knot of anxiety grew as she walked to the bus stop. She was relieved to see some people standing waiting. At least one of them might help her.

The library at Newton was a short distance from the bus stop. The journey had in fact gone smoothly and, for once, Louisa had enjoyed the attention she and Noah had received on the bus. Lots of cooing over him and Elsie, an older woman from the village, had chatted incessantly on the journey, keeping Noah fully enthralled with her red glasses and cackly voice. With help from a teenage lad, she’d disembarked from the bus easily. All was going well on this outing to town. She silently prayed it would continue that way as she manoeuvred the pram through the entrance into the hushed interior of the building.