‘Hi, yes. Everyone okay?’ I kick of my shoes and hang my damp coat up on the hook. I’m about to head up there when Matt appears on the stairs. He casts a worried glance over his shoulder and then points down towards the lounge, gesturing for us to go in. Once we’re in the room, he closes the door behind us quietly.

‘What’s wrong?’ I’m a little unnerved by his actions. ‘Are the kids okay?’

He gives a non-committal waggle of his head. ‘It’s Jess.’

‘What’s happened?’ I make a move towards the door, wanting to immediately go up and see her, but Matt shakes his head. My skin goes cold. ‘What? Tell me what’s wrong. Is she hurt?’

Matt puts a finger to his lips with a meaningful look up at the ceiling. ‘No, no, nothing like that. She’s upstairs, she’s fine. Well, not fine exactly.’

‘What is it then?’ I calm down a little and perch on one of the sofa arms, waiting for him to enlighten me.

‘Well, you were right about her mood. I went to pick them up from school and Charlie was his usual crazy, happy self, but Jess barely said two words to me. I tried to tease her out of it but that went down like a lead balloon. She gave me some serious shade, so I thought I’d leave her be until we got home.’

‘But did you find out what’s wrong?’

‘She went straight up to her room, so I brought her up a snack and sat on her bed. Took me a while to prise it out of her, but apparently Kate and Shaun’s daughter – I think her name’s Amy?’

I nod.

‘Yeah, well, this Amy was supposedly her new best friend, and now she won’t even talk to her. But Jess said she hasn’t done anything wrong and doesn’t know why Amy’s giving her the cold shoulder.’

My heart drops and I suddenly feel exhausted. ‘This is probably my fault.’

‘How can it be your fault?’

‘Kate probably told her to stay away from Jess.’

Matt frowns. ‘Why would she do that?’

‘You know – after dinner-gate on Saturday. Me asking about her daughter Bella and the both of them taking offence.’

‘Oh.’ Matt’s expression drops further. ‘Yeah, maybe. But more likely it’s just kids’ stuff. I mean, it’s not like Jess has never fallen out with any of her friends before. And it seems a bit of an extreme thing for Kate to do.’

‘I know. But it’s a bit coincidental that one minute Jess and Amy are the best of friends and then, straight after the weekend, Amy cuts Jess out. Plus, this morning, I saw Kate and she turned her back on me.’

Matt’s eyes widen. ‘What do you mean?’