‘How lovely for you, Lily. Dad told me it had been a bit on-off lately, so that is brilliant news.’ Esther was aware of sounding rather too jolly. She could feel the children’s antennae waggling, and was eager for them to know there was nothing to pick up on; or at least nothing significant. Her congratulations to Lucas that morning had been sincere. Their kissing in the early hours wasn’t something she would easily forget: so startling, so intense, so unquestionably seductive. As Lucas had whispered, his lips brushing her ear, they weren’t strangers. There had been a deeper temptation too – the allure of imagining that love-making might close their broken circle, lay down some sort of marker for the start of the new-found, hard-fought tenderness and respect that navigating the traumas of the last few months had wrought. But Lucas was Lucas, and Esther had hung onto that. Wrung out, vulnerable, and wanting her, yes, but mostly, she was sure, seeking the comfort of sex with a woman, even the one who happened to be his ex-wife. To succumb to sex would have been a lurch backwards and Esther knew she would have regretted it bitterly.

‘So, come on, then, Mum,’ Lily urged, clearly emboldened. ‘I know you’ve had a date or two…’

Dylan emitted the high-pitched moaning sound of a man close to the breaking point of his tolerance.

‘I did try a bit of online dating,’ Esther admitted, managing a rueful smile even as her stomach tightened at the memory of Chris Mews. ‘There was a three-month free-trial thing, but it’s run out now, and at the moment I don’t feel much inclination to sign back on. Never say never, though, right?’ She had shot Lily a grin in the rear-view mirror, laughing inside at the difficulty of a mother explaining to her offspring, even adult ones, that she had found a no-strings, hot-yet-tender sex arrangement with a handsome, half-Portuguese actor, which suited her needs perfectly.

Except when it didn’t, Esther reflected glumly, slumped still among her travel bags, the weeping having receded to self-pitying sniffles. Because, in the end, life alone could be a lonely business, especially returning to a chilly, empty house after an extraordinary roller-coaster Christmas, while your ex was loved up with a new life-partner, and the two people whom you cared about most in the world had – rightly – abandoned you to pursue their own fun. When not even your cat wanted to be near you. Yes, the take-it-or-leave-it hook-up sure had its limitations then.