‘Christ, Ange, you scared me, I thought you’d be in bed. How are you feeling?’

‘Much better,’ Angie lied. ‘How was your evening?’

‘Quite fun in the end,’ Jack said, pouring a glass of water and coming to sit next to her. ‘I was hopeless at the dancing but we all had a laugh.’

‘Did you walk back with Sophie?’

‘No she left early; she had to get back for the babysitter.’

Angie had a brief moment of panic at the thought of Jack alone with a bunch of women and no close allies to report back on his behaviour but she quickly put the thought out of her mind. She had to trust him, she just had to, because if she didn’t then their marriage really was over and she simply couldn’t accept that. Not after everything they’d been through.

‘You coming to bed?’ Jack asked.

‘In a minute,’ she replied, glancing back down at her laptop. She heard him go up the stairs and tried to concentrate on what she’d been doing but her focus had completely gone. After a few minutes she gave up and closed the laptop, turning off the kitchen light and making her own way up the stairs. By the time she got into bed he was snoring. She lay next to him and watched him sleep for a while. Then she reached over to her bedside table for her sleep spray, squirted it liberally all over her pillow, put on her lavender eye mask and tried to summon some sleep.

11

‘Look! Shop-bought cupcakes! Live it, learn it.’ Sophie waved the box of cupcakes at Angie. It was the morning of their annual Easter party and Angie had come over to help her prepare. However, unlike last time when the Taylors had turned up at the front door unannounced, Angie had come via the gate and let herself in through the back door, as comfortable in Sophie’s home now as she was in her own.

‘They look beautiful, but I was rather fond of your home-made ones,’ Angie replied as she washed her hands in the kitchen sink and turned to Sophie. ‘Where shall we start?’

‘You can start by telling me what’s going on.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Something’s on your mind and I think it’s time you talked about it.’

Sophie had sensed that something was up with Angie for a few weeks now but had been reluctant to probe her because she knew Angie valued her privacy. She didn’t like to ‘bang on about her feelings’ as she said. However, she had become increasingly subdued and Sophie was beginning to worry about her. Angie had been relieved when the pregnancy test came back negative so her withdrawn behaviour now didn’t make sense. She’d even quizzed Jack about it on the way to school a few days ago but had drawn a blank.

‘Everything okay with Angie?’ she’d asked, trying to sound light.

‘Yep, why?’

‘I don’t know, I just thought she seemed a bit out of sorts, that’s all.’