They were still sitting outside as the sun set later that day, savouring the warmth of the summer evening. Jack had been filling them in on the football squad he coached and Alan had been regaling them with stories of some of his clients’ most unusual requests. ‘They wanted his and hers toilet thrones in the bathroom!’ he told them as they all laughed uproariously.

Angie and Sophie went to check on the four younger children who had all fallen asleep top to tail in the den. They tiptoed around the room covering them with duvets and blankets before closing the door quietly behind them.

‘Alan and I can carry them home,’ Sophie whispered.

‘Leave them here,’ Angie replied. ‘They look so comfortable. Come and get them in the morning.’

‘Okay,’ Sophie agreed. ‘Thanks for a lovely afternoon, I’ve had such a great time.’

‘Me too. Let’s hope it’s the first of many barbecues.’

They smiled at each other, both basking in the pleasure of an unexpected friendship, and returned to the garden to find Alan and Jack finishing off their beers.

‘Well I’m three sheets to the wind, so I think it’s time to go home,’ Alan said.

Jack said goodbye and started checking the football scores on his phone but Angie watched Sophie and Alan disappear through the fence, laughing at a joke she hadn’t heard. At the last moment, Sophie looked back and waved at Angie. She smiled and waved back and then, with a glance at Jack, she started collecting the empty glasses and made her way back inside.

7

‘Mu-um, where’s my schoolbag?’

Sophie sighed impatiently, counted to ten and shouted back, ‘By the front door, where I told you it was thirty seconds ago!’

The first day back at school was always a shock after a long, lazy summer. They’d gone on holiday to Spain, spent a long weekend with Sophie’s parents in Devon and the rest of the time they’d stayed at home, chilling out, going to the park and seeing friends. As soon as school finished the Taylor family had gone on their usual three-week summer jaunt and then the children had been at holiday clubs for a fortnight, leaving Tom and Katie pining for them like little lost puppies. They had taken to sitting in the treehouse for hours, waiting for their friends to get home from football camp, or drama camp, or wherever it was they were that day.

Finally, in the last week of the holidays, the children had been at home and Sophie had barely seen Tom and Katie. She’d taken advantage of the uninterrupted time to send a few emails to her old contacts asking if they needed any freelance writers, but all she’d received was a plethora of out of office replies. Everyone, it seemed, was still on their summer holidays.

She finished making the children’s sandwiches and looked out of the window at the back garden, which was its usual chaotic mess. Grass and dead insects were floating in the half deflated paddling pool and the lawn was littered with toys. Her eyes fell to the gap in the fence, and she thought about what a glorious summer it had turned out to be.