I nod, gently. ‘It’s done them good.’ I’m careful to state it’s been good for the boys, not for me. But it has been good for me, too. There’s a comfort in what’s always been; in knowing someone and having shared memories with them. Of having a connection and a bond through the children. That doesn’t just stop because your marital relationship has. I suppose that’s why it’s often difficult to come out of a marriage and start over with someone new. You think it’ll be exciting, and yes, it is to a degree, but it’s also hard work. There are a million more complications when there are exes and someone else’s children involved too.

‘So?’ I ask. I’ve been both dying to hear, yet not wanting to, since he walked out of the house earlier saying we’d talk later. It feels as though a day has passed, not a few hours.

‘Soooo … nothing,’ he says, shrugging.

‘That’s it? Nothing? Haven’t you any more to add? You said we’d talk about it, so surely there’s something?’

He turns his body slightly towards me, placing both hands flat on his thighs. ‘I couldn’t see any obvious signs of someone having been here. Clearly, or I wouldn’t be letting you come back inside with my … our … boys.’

‘What about the weird thing with the fuse box?’ I swivel myself to face him too now, tucking one leg up beneath me. His expression still shows concern. But I’m beginning to think the concern is for me. As in, he’s worried about me and thinks I’ve lost the plot.

‘It could’ve been the fridge, like you thought—’

‘But it wouldn’t have tripped all the switches, Nick. You told me that before.’

‘You also said Finley and Leo had been looking for stuff yesterday and throwing things about under the stairs, maybe one of them did it?’

I swallow my rising frustration and take a deep breath before continuing. ‘Nick,’ I say, smiling, ‘if that had been the case, the power would’ve gone off there and then.’ I bite my tongue, because I really want to add duh at the end of that sentence, like the boys would do if they thought someone was being dumb.

There’s a silence now – although I can almost hear the charged static in the air. I’d been semi-prepared for being called paranoid, but I’m not accepting Nick’s attempt to write me off as stupid.

‘Okay. I admit, that was odd – but not an indication that someone was, or is, in the house. You said Carl has a key?’

‘Yes, I’ve tried getting it back, but he’s keeping hold of it and making every excuse as to why he’s not given it back to me yet.’