The sudden ring of Ed’s phone parted them, and he turned to take the call. Naomi guessed it was Morgan, asking where he was. She had an uncanny knack for interrupting their little intimacies. His daughter had received the news of their new living situation with all the disgust you would expect of a teenage girl. Naomi’s stomach churned at the thought of them living with Morgan. Could she parent a sixteen-year-old girl when she was just twelve years her senior?

Ed was chuckling now, oblivious to Naomi’s concerns. ‘She’s excited about tomorrow,’ he said, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

‘That’s nice,’ Naomi replied, with more enthusiasm than she felt.

As a siren blared in the busy London streets, Naomi cast an eye over the boxes stacked next to the wall. The next time she opened them, she would be in their woodland cottage. There would be no fear of terrorist attacks there, no congestion charges, no smog. Everything had changed in the last twelve months: her job, her family and now her home. Ivy Cottage was like something out of a Disney movie and it was time for her to live the fairy tale. If only people knew this hardened crime reporter came with a soft heart.

An unwelcome thought occurred. If Ivy Cottage was part of a fairy tale, did that make her a wicked stepmother? But there was a village nearby, with things for Morgan to do, and there was always the get-out clause. If things didn’t work out in the New Forest within twelve months, they could move back to London. It would be a shock to the system for Morgan to unplug herself from Wi-Fi to experience the joys of the outdoors.

‘Hey, don’t look so worried.’ Ed interrupted the flow of her thoughts. ‘We can always bribe her with a dog to ease the blow.’

‘Mmm,’ Naomi murmured, warmed by the idea of a pet. But bribery was not recommended in the parenting books that she’d read. They filled up half her Kindle, but so far they had not made things an ounce better than before.

‘Are you sure you won’t come back to the hotel?’ Ed said, hopefully. There was room on the sofa, but Morgan refused to sleep in Naomi’s flat.

‘You go,’ Naomi replied. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’