‘She’s never been this long in a car before.’ Daniel grimaced as he turned up the drum and bass playlist.

‘Has she ever been further than Ferrington before?’ I asked, swivelling round to waggle her stuffed giraffe in time to the music.

Daniel gripped the steering wheel harder.

‘Please tell me you’ve taken her somewhere other than muddy fields and a bonkers village.’

‘She’s not even one yet!’

I waited, slightly aghast. I thought my parents were bad, but at least they took me to the beach every now and then. We even went to a castle once.

‘She’s been to the supermarket.’

‘Wow, a real adventure.’

‘And the hospital.’

‘Another lovely memory to treasure, I’m sure.’

‘To visit her mum.’

‘Oh.’ I turned back around, dropping Giraffe into the pile of road-trip necessities filling up the footwell. Oh.

A revamped 1970s floor-filler reverberated through the car as the glow of the sunset bathed everything with nature’s own disco lights. I found a teething ring in my bag, which Hope chewed down on eagerly. The bittersweet memory of Charlie filled the space between us.

‘Sorry. I know you’ve had other priorities than family fun days out in the past few months.’

Daniel sighed. ‘No. You’re right. It’s not fair on Hope to have a dad who’s too busy to do anything beyond getting her through each day. It’s hardly what her mum would have wanted. I need to sort something so she can be properly looked after in the week, and then I’m free to give her my full attention at the weekends.’

‘Either that or you give up your job and work with me and Becky, at hours to suit you.’

Daniel grinned. ‘I don’t think I’m quite cut out to be a lifestyle guru.’

‘You can change beds and set tables. Plus, I’ve got so many plans for the garden that’ll be a full-time job in itself.’

‘I’m going to be cleaner and caretaker, then?’

I shrugged. ‘There’s accounting and admin, too, if you really can’t live without spreadsheets. But I bet Hope would love to help her daddy bring the farm back to life.’

‘If only it were that simple, I’d resign tomorrow. As idyllic as it sounds, the farm’s not going to pay my bills or provide for Hope’s future.’

‘Your outgoings are practically nothing. Your biggest expenditure is a Friday night pizza. Let’s see how this weekend goes, see what my parents have to say, and when we get back we can look at the numbers.’

‘Maybe.’

‘There’s no maybe about how you and Hope will suffer if you don’t start taking more days off.’

‘Okay, well, your lecture has been sufficiently boring to send her back to sleep, so can we change the subject now?’

We did. We changed the subject more times than I can remember – meandering through childhood memories, dream destinations and whether halloumi is really all it’s cracked up to be or simply cheese that squeaks.

As the shadows crept across the dashboard, Daniel’s playlist softened into easy-listening classics and Hope snoozed gently behind us, I wondered if I’d ever spoken at such length and in such depth to anyone before. Charlie had spent a lot of time with me, but so often I had deferred to her opinions and ideas – not because she chose to dominate, but because I chose to tag along in her shadow. Becky was starting to get to know me, and we had chatted about everything from the evolution of feminism to what on earth Alice was still doing with Jase – which, to some extent, I supposed were the same topic.