‘Guys, this is not okay. You can’t just go next door and start playing whenever you feel like it,’ Sophie told them sternly. ‘This isn’t our garden.’

‘It’s okay,’ she heard a small voice say. It was Ellie who was marching up the garden in her raincoat and wellies, flanked by Freddy. ‘We want to play with them.’

Sophie watched as Ellie climbed up into the treehouse, followed by Freddy. She stood there for a minute, at a loss as to what to do. While it was rather heart-warming to see them making friends, she didn’t feel that she knew Angie and Jack well enough to let her kids play in their garden without their permission. She felt horribly conspicuous herself, hovering on the divide between the two gardens, and wondered if Angie was watching from the window, maybe tutting her disapproval at their audacity. Should she make them come back inside? And how safe was that rickety treehouse anyway, especially after the storm? The last thing she needed was a trip to A&E. Before she had a chance to decide, Angie emerged from the house.

‘I’m really sorry,’ Sophie called out to her. ‘They just disappeared through the fence before I had a chance to stop them. I’m fetching them back now.’

‘It’s fine,’ Angie said. ‘Let them play. Ellie and Freddy were terribly excited when they saw them from the house. They couldn’t get their wellies on quick enough.’

‘As long as you’re sure,’ Sophie said. The two women stood side by side watching the children huddled together in the treehouse, chatting away as if they’d been friends for years rather than just a few minutes. If only it was so easy for grown-ups, Sophie thought, feeling awkward. She was relieved when Angie broke the silence.

‘I was just going to make a cup of tea; would you like to join me?’

‘Okay, thanks,’ Sophie replied.

‘Come inside where it’s nice and warm. The kids are fine out here.’

With a final, nervous glance at the treehouse, Sophie followed Angie into the house. She felt a rush of warmth as she stepped over the threshold and then gasped as she looked around her. The house had been completely transformed. They’d been having work done to it for forever and she knew from the absence of builders’ vans and drilling that they were finally finished but she couldn’t believe how incredible it looked. The old, dated kitchen and dining room had been combined and extended to create one immense family room with a huge kitchen, furnished with pale granite worktops and a central island, with a neat row of stools next to it. Above it, three pendant lights hung from the ceiling.

On one side of the room the entire wall was lined with a floor to ceiling bookcase, stacked with neat rows of books. There was a huge grey corner sofa with a big fluffy rug in the corner and on the other side a long, elegant dining table with wooden benches. In the centre of the room, tucked into a column, was a wood-burning stove, its flames flickering. The whole thing looked like something from an interior design magazine When she took her trainers off, Sophie felt the warmth of the smooth tiles on her socks. Underfloor heating, she realised blissfully.