“Could you ask your father if he can do the school run today, Izzy? I’d like Ash to sleep as long as possible, and Eric’s leaving soon.”

“Daddy left hours ago.” Izzy makes a careful crossing out. “In a rush.”

Paul rose early then, which is surprising. He’d been more drunk than anyone else; she has a vague memory of Eric helping him upstairs to bed.

“We’ll just have to wake Ash then. We might be late for school this once, but it was a good party, wasn’t it?”

Izzy doesn’t reply. Eve drops bread in the toaster, takes milk and juice from the fridge, puts cereal on the table, and finds bowls and mugs. She digs out some acetaminophen capsules from the back of the cupboard, swallowing a couple down.

“Toast’s burning,” Izzy says as she rubs out and rewrites a word.

“Shit.”

The toast is black. Eve puts more bread in the toaster and shakes dog food into the bowl. She hurries from the kitchen and calls up from the bottom of the stairs.

“Eric?”

No answer, he must still be in the shower.

“Poppy?”

“What?”

“Can you get Ash up for me?”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes, please. I’m getting breakfast; we need to leave in ten minutes.”

In the kitchen Izzy is texting; she looks up as smoke plumes from the toaster again. Eve throws away the blackened slabs. Eight twenty. By now the traffic will be stationary. She calls the school but no one picks up; she is invited to leave a message. As she is talking, she notices Igor waiting for Eric by the truck in the rain, his hair plastered against his skull. She replaces the receiver and turns to call Eric at the same moment that Poppy appears at the kitchen door, shoeless, her hair uncombed. Izzy turns to look at Poppy too, her fair eyebrows raised.

“Ash isn’t in his bed.” Poppy looks very young. “I can’t find him anywhere.”

Melissa

No one is about; the weather has scared the usual runners away and the wet park feels peaceful. As she jogs around the pond for the second time, a message pings through on Melissa’s phone.

Eve’s busy, Dad’s left. Can you take us in?

Eight sixteen. Melissa replaces her phone in her tracksuit pocket and runs home fast, rain stinging her face. She gets straight into the car, checking her Fitbit: 200 calories. Better than nothing, she can make up the rest later. She drums her fingers on the wheel as she waits for the traffic lights to change. The crowds swarm over the crosswalk, the downpour crackles against the windshield. In Wiltshire rain will be falling on that soft green lawn, the view across the valley will be shrouded in soft mist.

A horn blares behind her, the lights have changed, the traffic inches forward. She’s scarcely a mile away but the roads are crowded. It’s rush hour and everyone drives when it’s raining. By the time she reaches Eve’s house, she is panicking; they’ll all be late for school. Izzy doesn’t reply to her text, so she parks the car in the road and hurries up the drive. The back door is wide open and rain is pouring in. She can hear Poppy shouting and Sorrel crying somewhere. Eric greets her, his mouth set in a grim line. Melissa’s thoughts dart to Eve’s secret.