December was one of Sophie’s favourite times of the year, bringing back fond memories from her own childhood. She always went over the top with the decorations and festivities in the house and garden, which thankfully the children were still young enough to love. Helping to organise the school’s winter fair had got her into even more of a Christmas spirit this year. She had put her name down for manning the tombola stall and had been in the very thick of it when Jack appeared through the throng and made a beeline for her.

‘Christ on a bike, this is hell!’ he declared cheerily as he kissed her on the cheek.

‘Is this your first Christmas fair?’ Sophie shouted at him over the noise and chaos reverberating around the walls of the school hall.

‘I braved a few at the kids’ previous school but it was nothing like this. This is next level.’

‘We do go a bit all out at this school,’ Sophie admitted. ‘Do you want to play the tombola?’

‘Sure, why not.’ Jack reached into his pockets and pulled out some change and Sophie handed him the bucket of raffle tickets. As he read the ticket numbers aloud, she handed him his prizes – a bottle of cordial, bubble bath and a soap.

‘Congratulations,’ she said, giving him a thumbs up.

He replied with a withering look. ‘What a haul. I’d better go round up the kids: they’ve scattered like sheep without a shepherd. See you later?’

She nodded and got on with serving the next tombola hopeful. As she glanced up, she saw Jack being swallowed up by the crowds again. He had been doing the school runs for three months now and they’d fallen into a pattern of walking together most days. He didn’t seem to be showing any signs of returning to work full-time and she suspected he was enjoying himself.

She had grown fond of him and now she looked forward to seeing him every day, feeling disappointed if she missed him. The children had grown accustomed to it too and now they automatically paused outside the neighbours’ house and waited for them to emerge. The friendship between Tom, Katie, Ellie and Freddy seemed stronger than ever.

Despite her initial reservations about Jack, she had discovered that he was easy to talk to, funny and refreshingly self-deprecating. She could understand why Angie joked that she had five children, not four. She sensed that he had been acting the fool for so long that he didn’t know any different but underneath it all he was actually incredibly thoughtful. They talked about all sorts of things on their walks to school. Sometimes they were so engrossed that they kept going, even after they’d dropped the kids off. They would pick up a coffee and head for the nearest park, doing a couple of circuits until Jack had to go and do some work. Most of their subjects were light but as the weeks went by and the trust between them grew, they became more involved. Recently they’d shared what it felt like to be married to the breadwinner and Jack had made a joke of it, but she suspected that it affected him more than he let on.