It was a shame she hadn’t broken down nearer the centre of the village. Not only would she have been close enough to home she could walk Freddie back, but someone would have undoubtedly delivered her a hot cup of tea, or even towed her car back to her cottage. Here on the outer road though, it was far quieter. There was barely any traffic on the best of days, and they hadn’t seen a car yet. The houses were so spaced out that no one could see she was stuck, even if they did wander down to the ends of their ridiculously long driveways. Snow gathered around the tyres, and she worried she wasn’t going to get out. Her tyres weren’t really designed for this sort of weather. Nothing in Britain was designed for this sort of weather. They’d learned to cope with constant drizzle but that was about it.

‘Bella,’ Freddie said brightly, and she wondered if they were about to have another game of I-spy. He was surprisingly observant and inventive and she’d lost the last two games. ‘Do you like my dad?’

Bella felt herself jerk backwards as if the question had hit her in the chest. ‘Yeah,’ she replied nonchalantly, as if she were talking about any of her neighbours. ‘Of course. Your dad’s a lovely man. Everyone in the village likes him.’ Now she was going over the top, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. ‘I mean, he’s the best gardener around and—’

‘No, I mean, do you like him like him?’ Freddie’s eyes widened as he waited for the answer. ‘Like the way mums and dads like each other. Do you love him?’

What the heck did she say to that? Luckily, Freddie kept talking, meaning she didn’t have to answer immediately, and Bella attempted to compose a suitable, non-committal response. What was the point in saying yes, she did like him – love him – but as he was clearly going to be trying again with Paige it all seemed more than a little pointless.

‘He’s been acting weird since Mum came back.’

‘Has he?’ It must have been a surprise.

‘Yeah. It’s like he was when Mum left.’

‘It must be very strange for you all, but I’m sure you’ll get back to normal soon.’ Bella kept her voice bright and breezy, but her heart was screaming that it was all so unfair.

‘Dad’s been much happier since we started doing the volunteering and stuff.’

‘I’m glad. Volunteering is a really good thing to do. Look how happy you’ve made people today, Freddie.’ Nice deflection, she thought.

Freddie examined her from the corner of his eye then transferred his gaze to the steamed-up window where he drew a smiley face. Had he been in Year 6, he’d probably have drawn something far worse.