They shared a bed but they didn’t touch or even say goodnight to each other. For weeks they lived like cellmates in that bedroom, trapped in the prison of their unhappy marriage, but as time went on it became too exhausting to lead two separate lives and gradually, they began to blur into one. She softened a bit at the edges, then a bit more, as the familiarity and easiness to their relationship start to return bit by bit. He said something funny and she instinctively laughed before she remembered that she was angry with him. He put a hand on the small of her back and she didn’t immediately flinch. One night he curled up behind her in bed and put his arm around her, and she relaxed into him. A week after that, they had sex for the first time in months.

Eventually she considered that his punishment had been served and knew that the only way they were going to move forward was if she truly forgave him. But she couldn’t forget.

‘Every time I go into that laundry room I see those disgusting pink knickers on the floor,’ she told him one evening.

‘What can I do, Angie? How can I make this better?’

‘I think we need to move house. And not just house, we need a fresh start, a clean break. I think we should move somewhere completely new. We’ve been talking about how we need more space and now’s our opportunity.’

‘Okay. Anywhere in mind?’

‘How about Finchley? Near my mum.’

‘Yes.’

It was that simple, no debate, no arguments. He was so eager to please her that he probably would have agreed to move to Antarctica. She had no doubt that he loved her, that he needed her and the children. But it was like he had two different identities – the adoring husband and father who lived for his family and the thoughtless lad wishing he was still captain of the football team, chatting up girls in the nightclub and getting a kebab on the way home. She had married one but the other had snuck into the bargain.

They put the house on the market two weeks later. Their friends were shocked by the suddenness, but Angie had her solid explanation ready and everyone accepted it without suspicion. Freddy and Ellie saw it as a great adventure but Benji was distraught and Indie was furious. However, Angie stood by her decision and Jack backed her up, championing the move and reasoning with Benji and Indie, encouraging them to consider the positives.

When they moved, it was Jack who had kept them going with his enthusiasm, who made them all laugh and held them together during the stressful months of the refurbishment. And slowly, at their own paces, they had all begun to embrace their new life.

Benji and Indie had settled in at school and made new friends, Ellie and Freddy bonded with Tom and Katie, Jack got involved in the local community, and Angie found Sophie, who was now striding back down the garden.