‘Sorry, love, bad day at the office again,’ he admitted, righting the overturned furniture, and Claire felt herself relax slightly at the acknowledgement.

Chris lifted the suitcase and she saw the strong muscles in his back, his slim waist, and powerful legs. At school, Chris had always been the best-looking boy and even now at forty-three, his good looks had only intensified with age, as had her attraction to him. Chris easily slotted the empty suitcase onto the top shelf, and she came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest. His body felt tense; the strain of his job etched onto his muscles. Turning around to embrace her, he kissed her on the forehead before turning to Jamie.

‘Come here, little man,’ he said to his son, bending down, and Jamie propelled himself forward almost tripping over his feet to get to his father. Claire watched lovingly as the two of them hugged. Releasing his son, Chris stood up.

‘I just need another hour to finish working on this proposal and then we can eat,’ he told Claire. ‘What’s for dinner? It smells amazing.’

‘Your favourite – beef casserole,’ she replied with a smile. Taking Jamie by the hand, she quietly left Chris to his work and closed his office door behind her. Claire went back into the living room; thankful she’d successfully calmed him down. Who knew, perhaps with a glass of red wine over dinner, the conversation about her going back to work full-time might go down better than she’d expected. Claire led Jamie back to his trains and she sat down in the large armchair near his play area in the living room. Her phone beeped, and she picked it up and read a message from Joshua.

Staying at Mark’s for dinner – won’t be too late.

Claire put down her phone thoughtfully. With Jamie in bed, Joshua out for the evening, and Chris a bit more relaxed, tonight could be promising. Claire’s approach to the topic would be simple; solution-oriented. She knew how her husband’s mind worked; he would need to know that his life wouldn’t be affected in any way and that he was still the main breadwinner. The former, she wasn’t a hundred per cent sure of yet and the latter? Well, Claire knew she was very good at her job. She knew he was secretly proud of her, but she also knew he struggled when she did better than him, and not just financially.