I stand and walk over to the sofa, sit down next to my friend, trying to think what I could possibly have done to upset my sister-in-law. In all the years we’ve known one another, we’ve never fallen out, and she’s never used that distant, over-polite tone with me before either. Madeline has always been a person I can rely on to be there for me and I’d like to think that goes both ways.

‘Zo?’

‘Sorry, Becky. That was Madeline. She was changing some arrangements.’

‘Arrangements? You mean the party?’

‘No. I was supposed to be looking after my nieces this weekend while they’re away, but now she’s got someone else to do it.’

‘Sounds like you dodged a bullet there,’ she says through a mouthful of sandwich.

‘No, not at all. I love my nieces. I was looking forward to having them over.’

She nudges me with her elbow. ‘I was teasing.’

‘Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m a bit distracted. It was weird. She sounded annoyed with me or something.’

‘No one could ever be annoyed with you, Zoe, you’re too… un-annoying.’ Becky gives me a comforting wink. I give her a weak smile in return. ‘You sure she wasn’t just stressed, or busy? Sometimes it’s hard to tell from a phone conversation. You might be worrying over nothing.’

I replay the conversation in my head. ‘No. She was definitely pissed off.’

‘Well then, you’ll just have to speak to her about it.’

‘I know. But you know how rubbish I am at stuff like that.’

‘Put on your big-girl pants, Zoe.’

I stick out my tongue and sink back into the sofa, closing my eyes for a few seconds.

‘Better eat your lunch if you’re having any. Your two o’clock will be here soon.’

I sigh and pull a face. ‘I’ve lost my appetite.’

‘Okay, but don’t expect me to pick you up off the floor when you faint from hunger at four o’clock.’ She shoves the last piece of sandwich in her mouth and pops open a can of Fanta.

I wonder how I’m going to break the news to the kids. They’ve both been looking forward to having their cousins to stay. I decide that whatever’s happened, it’s obviously some misunderstanding that Madeline and I will be able to sort out. It’s annoying that I can’t fix it right now, because I know I’m going to brood about it all afternoon. But Becky’s right – I’ll speak to Madeline after work, sort it out and everything will go back to normal. At least, I hope it will.