‘Well …’ She pauses, biting down on her bottom lip. ‘Uh … that type, I suppose.’

I wait, my eyebrows lifted.

‘I did ask Evan questions,’ she says. ‘Obviously I did. But you know what men are like. They don’t clock things the way we do. So annoying!’

As the women leave, chatting in the front garden while Kit settles the baby into the pram, Douglas, my ex, walks up to the door and greets them all by name. He knows them as the parents of Lottie’s friends, and they think he’s marvellous – even Cassie, who understands a little more about our relationship than the others do, can’t help getting a little giddy round him.

‘What are you doing here?’ I ask, once everyone’s gone.

‘Can I come in first?’

I shrug and move to one side.

‘I had a text from Lottie.’

‘I told her not to tell anyone at school. I should have …’ I stop, realizing too late where this is going.

‘You should have told her not to tell me?’ His expression hardens. ‘Do you often ask her not to tell me things?’

‘No,’ I flounder. Because of course I do.

I walk ahead of him into the kitchen so that he can’t see my face. Tears irritate my ex.

‘Grace?’ His voice is sharp.

‘Give me a moment.’ I splash my face with water and wipe it on a clean tea towel, then turn to face him, back in control. ‘I didn’t want to make it into something it isn’t, in case he comes back. What did Lottie say?’

He pulls his phone out of his back pocket, man-oeuvres it with one hand and shows me the text.

Hi Dad. Something weird happened. Nick’s gone missing and Mum’s really upset. I don’t know what to do. Lottie xx

‘Who else have you told?’ he asks.

‘No one except Nick’s parents and the police.’ It’s a small fib, but he’ll only be offended if he discovers I confided in Cassie and Anna rather than him. ‘You know what people are like round here. They’ll think he’s left me.’

‘And he hasn’t?’

I glare at him. ‘No, course he hasn’t. Not on purpose at least.’

‘What did the police say?’

‘That it’s too early to send out a search party. They thought I was being hysterical. If he hasn’t reappeared by Thursday, that’s when they said they’d take it more seriously.’

‘Big of them,’ Douglas says, crossing his arms and leaning a shoulder against the wall. Douglas always wears black: black jeans, black jacket, black shirt. It suits him because he’s so skinny, but it also makes him look like a drug dealer. ‘What can I do to help?’

‘You could take Lottie somewhere fun this weekend; distract her.’

‘Sure. No problem. What about money?’

‘What about it?’

‘Well, have you got enough?’