Stephen glanced over at Eilidh, who was smiling contentedly to herself.

‘It’s been a lovely evening. Just hope your parents haven’t been run rings around.’

‘They love it. They’d have her to keep. But yeah, it’s been just what we needed. Could do with a pint, right enough. Maybe have a can when we get home. That peppercorn sauce on the steak was lovely, but a bit salty.’

‘Should have drunk more water.’

‘I know, but I get bored of it. Bit of a scunner that you can’t drive when you’re not drinking anyway.’

‘Them’s the rules after a Caesarean.’

She put her hand on his thigh, reaching across the handbrake.

‘It’s not without its benefits, though.’

‘You serious?’ he asked, perhaps just a little too eagerly. It had been a good couple of months after Annie’s birth before they’d had sex again, though the fact that Eilidh had had an episiotomy was in practice the least of the reasons. For all Charlie was a good baby, he was still a baby, which meant Eilidh was knackered much of the time, and to be honest so was Stephen, meaning he had all but forgotten that this time there was no physical restriction why they couldn’t.

Eilidh responded by drawing her hand further along his thigh towards his groin.

‘You sure you never drank anything?’ he asked.

‘I’m a bundle of hormones,’ she said, giggling. ‘Far more disinhibiting.’

Stephen stepped on the accelerator for a moment.

‘Right. If we get a speeding ticket, it’s your fault. I cannae wait to get you home.’

‘And I don’t think I can wait that long.’

‘What?’

‘Look where we are,’ she said. ‘Must be two minutes away. Why don’t we, just for old times’ sake?’

‘But Charlie’s on the back seat. I don’t want to move him. It’s always murder wedging that thing in there.’

‘Not on the back seat. It’s a warm night. There’s a spare blanket. Like we used to.’

‘We’ll be home in twenty minutes.’

‘Hormones, remember? I might have changed my mind in twenty minutes.’

‘Deal.’

It was a spot he knew about because he used to come here on his bike as a kid. The place was only a few miles from his parents’ old house, the one he grew up in, before they moved to the semi in Kilsyth where they lived now. He’d spend all summer out cycling around with his pals, finding out where every last back road, track and pathway led.