Tommy beamed from ear to ear. ‘Okey doke. What about you, Danny?’

‘Me?’ Danny held his hands wide. ‘You aren’t expecting me to make a cake as well, are you, Tommy?’

Just as he said this, the back door opened, and Sarah stepped through, balancing a wide box on her hip. ‘I heard that, Danny Callaghan. Kitty, did you warn him?’

Kitty smiled conspiratorially. ‘Didn’t have time.’

Danny turned. ‘What do you mean, Kitty? What have you got in store for me?’

Sarah put the box on the table with a thump. ‘Sprouts, Danny.’

He gave her an amazed look and she grinned back, her eyes twinkling.

‘What am I meant to do with them?’ He looked into the box. ‘There must be hundreds of them!’

Kitty laughed out loud. ‘Now come on, Danny. You’re always telling me how well you managed when you were on your own, and you didn’t always rely on Sarah here. So we thought you could help out with the vegetables. Your job is to prepare the sprouts.’

For a moment he looked dismayed, but then he rallied, as he could see he had no way of saving face other than by accepting. Besides, if Sarah and Kitty were ganging up on him, it was pointless to try to resist.

‘All right,’ he said grudgingly. ‘You’ll have to show me what to do though.’

‘Kitty will do that,’ said Sarah. ‘I’ve got to get back to Mam. I’m peeling the carrots. Don’t forget to save the box, though – Mam keeps them for protecting her vegetable beds.’ With that she swung out of the back door.

Stepping outside into the cool, fresh morning air, Sarah congratulated herself on not falling apart at the first sight of Danny for what felt like half a lifetime. He was still as handsome as she remembered, and as warm and funny, and she knew her heart was beating faster even as she’d good-humouredly mocked him. Whether his was doing the same, she just couldn’t tell.

‘We did it!’ Rita gave her mother a hug. ‘Mam, you managed it. Thank you.’