It was times like this she became distraught. Overwhelmed by all of it, even the simple tasks. That’s when she forgot things. She had to slow down. She didn’t want to give Brian any more reason not to trust her capabilities. She hummed a tune to Noah as she continued to make up the bottle, louder and louder until her own voice expelled from her, drowning out Noah’s cries – singing some lines from a song she didn’t even realise she knew. She must have heard it recently and it’d stuck in her head. But the line about not caring what you did, as long as you still love me, resonated with her; it made her feel strange, like it meant something important.

As she thought about it, she remembered it was an old song by the Backstreet Boys from when she was at college. Well, it’d done the trick anyway – Noah had hushed.

‘There we go,’ she said as finally the bottle was ready and she lifted her baby from the basket and laid him on her lap. He sucked from the bottle eagerly, gulping quickly, milk dribbling from the sides of his mouth down into the folds of his neck.

Quiet.

Thank goodness. Louisa relaxed back in the chair. Noah’s tiny hands gripped the bottle, his eyes gazing up at her, contentment on his face.

The lounge door swung open and Emily flounced in, dropping her bag before collapsing full-length on the sofa.

‘Hi, love. Hard day?’ Louisa wouldn’t mention the dirty washing incident; it was best to move on from that.

Emily gave a grunt, but didn’t offer an answer.

Louisa tried again: ‘You had a tiring day too?’

‘Mum. You have no idea,’ Emily retorted without looking up. ‘You get to sit there all day and don’t have to use a single brain cell.’

Louisa was taken aback. ‘Oh, so that’s what you think, is it?’ She tried to sound jokey, but her daughter’s harsh words had cut her.

‘Well, it is what you do. Although Dad said you weren’t even doing that right.’

‘Emily!’ Noah stirred in her arms at her raised voice. ‘Don’t speak to me like that.’

‘Well, sorry for repeating what he said.’ She sat up then, and faced Louisa. ‘I’m not being mean, Mum. Just stating facts.’ She shrugged.

‘I realise this has been a hard time for you; it’s difficult having a new baby in your life when you’re a teenager, I’m sure. It is for me too. It’s not what I expected at forty.’

‘You’ve heard of contraception, right?’

Louisa was too stunned by Emily’s outburst to respond. She’d never spoken to her in such a way before, never been rude and nasty. This couldn’t be as a result of Louisa forgetting to wash her uniform. There had to be something else bothering her daughter.