“I’ll remember that.”

“I should probably warn you that the kitchen wall is now home to a giant spreadsheet. Alice allocates tasks for people.”

Liza winced. “That doesn’t sound like a particularly tasteful design feature.”

“It isn’t, but if it reminds them to do their share then it’s worth the visual pain.” He pulled over suddenly and parked in the gateway to a field. In the distance the sea was a streak of blue against the cloudy sky.

“Why are you stopping?”

“Because these last few days have been special and leaving here makes me nervous.” He turned in his seat. “I’m terrible at remembering anniversaries. There’s no excuse for that, and I’m going to do better. It’s one of my flaws, I know that. I can focus on work, but not have a clue where my blue shirt is. I try and approach everything calmly which I know drives you crazy because you work at a pace that would shame a racing driver, but here’s the thing, Liza—I love you.” He took her face in his hands. “I love you, and I have loved you for every one of the years we’ve spent together, even if I sometimes forget to mark the moment. And part of the reason I forget to mark the moment is because I feel lucky every day I’m with you and picking one day a year to celebrate is almost like saying the rest of it isn’t special. It’s all special.” There was no doubting the sincerity in his voice.

“Sean—”

“Let me finish—” He smoothed her hair away from her face. “Yes we’re swamped by things to do. My job is busy, having twins has always given us more than enough to do and you bear the brunt of it, and we both have constant demands on our time and we have to prioritize, but since when has our relationship come bottom of the list? It should be top priority, not bottom. It should be the first thing we pay attention to, not the last.”

“I know. And we’re going to do that.”

How had she ever prioritized washing Caitlin’s strap top over a conversation with Sean? How had they stopped prioritizing themselves? She made lists of all the things she had to do, but spending time with Sean where they did nothing but focus on each other wasn’t on that list.

Sean kissed her gently and then steered the car back onto the road and headed for home.

As they pulled into their road, Liza felt a flicker of nerves. It felt strange, being home, as if she’d been away for a lifetime even though it was only a matter of weeks.

But then the front door opened and Caitlin and Alice raced out to greet them, as they’d done when they were very young.