She waited in anticipation for his response, his surprise when he realised how long ago he’d won her heart, his realisation that she’d been his for so many years, but there was nothing but his steady breathing. He was fast asleep.

4

Sophie, Alan, Tom and Katie stood huddled together in the garden, their backs turned against the bitterly cold wind, and observed the carnage.

‘Wow,’ Tom said.

‘Wow indeed,’ Alan agreed.

A storm had wreaked havoc across the country. Trees had been ripped down, roof tiles hurled to the ground and garden trampolines thrown onto railway tracks. Reports of power cuts and floods dominated the news headlines. Overnight, the storm had destroyed part of the battered fence in their back garden, taking down three panels and leaving a gaping hole, where they could now clearly see into the neighbours’ garden.

‘I told you that fence was an accident waiting to happen,’ Alan said. ‘It’s been looking like the Leaning Tower of Pisa for years.’

‘Whose is it though?’ Sophie asked, wrapping her coat tightly around herself and folding her arms across it. ‘Ours or theirs?’

‘I’ll have to double-check the deeds but I’m pretty sure it’s theirs.’

As they stood, pondering the broken fence, Sophie saw two curious little faces appear from the other side. The younger two Taylor children. She gave them a little wave and shortly afterwards Jack and Angie arrived, wearing their dressing gowns.

‘Hi, neighbours,’ Sophie shouted at them over the wind. ‘We may have a problem.’

The Taylor family had been living next door to them for about nine months, although Sophie barely saw them except for the odd hello when they were putting the bins out. The only reason she even knew their surname was because she occasionally took a parcel for them. She had tried to start a conversation with Angie a couple of times but she was always in a rush. She wasn’t exactly what Sophie would call the chatty type. The children went to breakfast and after-school clubs every day, so Sophie never bumped into them on the school run either.

But it didn’t stop her forming opinions about them. Angie was obviously one of those high-flying women who probably looked down her nose at people like Sophie, with her oversized jumpers and lack of career. She always looked so groomed and polished whenever Sophie saw her. She was perfectly polite but Sophie found her a bit unapproachable, superior even.

Jack was a bit friendlier. He always gave her a wide smile and a wave whenever he saw her and he’d brought round a bottle of wine to apologise for the noise during their building works. She suspected that he was one of those men who survived on his good looks and charm alone. She doubted there was much substance underneath.

She had no idea about the children. She had asked Tom and Katie once if they played with them at school, but they were in different classes and they had barely known who they were.