Sunshine filters in through the blinds as I lie in bed in Beth and Carys’s spare bedroom. The flat is quiet; quieter than our house. It’s 9 a.m. already, so I guess everyone already left for work and school. When I showed up on her doorstep last night, Beth was great. I didn’t feel like talking, so she brought tea and toast into the spare room and left me alone, telling me she was there if I wanted to talk.

I didn’t.

Now, I’m checking my phone. There are three voicemails, two texts, and seven missed calls, all from Jared, and all along the same lines of I’m sorry, I miss you, Come home. I guess I should reply, but I don’t know what to say. Should I forgive my husband? Sweep it all under the carpet? What if he still wants to go running with Darcy? I can’t face another argument. So, instead of replying, I set my phone back on the nightstand, roll over and close my eyes once more, letting sleep take me again.

Eight hours later, I’m in the car heading home in the dark through slow-moving, rush-hour traffic, headlights shining in my rear-view mirror, nerves clawing at my stomach, dreading another fight with Jared. I didn’t wake again until midday, and spent the afternoon pottering about the place, reading old magazines, flicking through daytime TV and tidying Beth and Carys’s kitchen. Not that it particularly needed tidying, but I had to keep myself busy. I wanted to make sense of the jumble of thoughts crowding my mind. Thoughts about Darcy and Mike, about Jared, and my lost or stolen career. I couldn’t get any sense of perspective. I couldn’t work out whether I was worrying over nothing.

I toyed with picking Joe up from school, but then I’d have had to call Jared to let him know, and I wasn’t ready to speak to him yet. Anyway, I figured it wouldn’t hurt for Jared to pick Joe up today. I still don’t feel in the mood to speak to my husband, but I have to go home sometime, and I’m already missing Joe like crazy.

Finally, I make the turn into our road. Jared’s car isn’t outside the house. I hope he remembered to collect Joe. The school never called me, so I’m sure Jared must have picked Joe up. I notice someone else has parked in his spot, and then I recognise the sleek lines of Darcy’s Bentley. What the hell is she doing here? I pull up opposite our house, outside Mrs Levinson’s low front wall. She hates people parking outside her window – it means she can’t be as nosy as usual. Tough. There are no other spaces close by.

Before I get out of the car, I pull down the mirror, switch on the interior light and check my make-up. If Darcy’s in my house, I don’t want to show up with smudged mascara and lipstick on my teeth.

My heart pounds as I let myself in through the front door, wondering if maybe Jared has confided to Darcy about our argument and she’s here to try and talk me around. The hall lights are on, and a delicious smell of warm pastry wafts out of the kitchen. I walk straight through to see a vase of fresh flowers on the kitchen table, a basket of fresh bread, and various salad items laid out on the chopping board. Darcy is crouched down in front of the oven wearing a pair of oven mitts.

‘Hi, Darcy,’ I say, trying not to sound put out. ‘What are you doing here? Is Jared with you?’

She turns and stands, closing the oven door. ‘Louisa, you’re back! Hi. I didn’t realise you’d be home so soon.’

‘Well, here I am,’ I say attempting to sound light-hearted, and failing.

‘You must be wondering why I’m in your kitchen,’ she says, crossing the room to greet me.

‘Well, yes, I thought Jared was picking Joe up. Is J—’

‘Jared was working, so I offered to pick Joe up for him. It’s no big deal. He said you were… busy?’

I bite down on my rising anger. ‘You didn’t have to do that. Jared was supposed to—’

‘I was passing by the office and he seemed a little flustered. It’s no biggie, honestly. I had to get Tyler anyway.’

I could kill Jared, but I don’t want Darcy to know how I feel so I plaster on a smile and try to appear grateful. ‘Thank you. You really shouldn’t have.’

‘I wanted to. You guys have been so supportive. It’s the least I could do. I offered to take the boys back to mine, but Jared said he’d be home by seven – and he wasn’t sure if you’d be back – so I said I may as well bring Joe here, save him schlepping all the way over to mine after work. I tidied up the kitchen a little and made a pie – hope you don’t mind.’

I bite back the retort that he’s happy to ‘schlep’ over to hers most other nights.

‘Now you’re here,’ she says, ‘do you fancy slicing up some veggies for the salad?’ She slides the chopping board in my direction.

Bloody cheek, I think. But I nod, sit at the table, pick up the knife and start slicing the cucumber. ‘Where’s Joe?’ I ask.

‘Upstairs with Tyler. They’re watching the new Batman movie on Ty’s iPad.’

‘The new Batman movie? I thought that movie was rated 15?’

‘Yes,’ she says, shaking her head, ‘but they love those superhero movies, don’t they. You know what boys are like. It’s probably just a bit of swearing – nothing they don’t already hear at school.’

I have a feeling there’s more in that film than just the odd swear word. I seem to remember the last Batman contained torture scenes. Joe really shouldn’t be watching it; I should march upstairs and turn it off. But if I make a scene, I’ll embarrass Joe in front of his friend. I decide to leave it for a few minutes. Hopefully, Darcy and Tyler will leave soon.

‘I hope you don’t mind me asking,’ Darcy says, sitting next to me,’ but is everything okay between you and Jared? It’s just… he seemed a little—’

‘What? Yes, everything’s fine,’ I say. ‘I just had some stuff to do today, that’s all.’ Suddenly warm, I realise I’m still wearing my coat. I set down the knife, shrug off my coat and let it slide down the back of the chair in a screwed-up heap.

‘Okay, good,’ she replies. ‘I was worried you two might have had an argument. Jared seemed… tense. The last thing I want is for you two to start going through the same crap as me and Mike.’

I give a sympathetic smile and a small laugh to dismiss her worries. ‘It’s probably just stress over the business launch. He wants everything to be perfect.’ I should be polite and offer Darcy a cup of tea, but I need her to go. I don’t want her to be here when Jared gets home, which will probably be any minute. ‘Well,’ I say. ‘Thanks so much again. If you ever need me to get Tyler from school for you—’

‘Oh, yeah, sure. My pleasure.’ She takes the hint and gets to her feet. ‘The pie should be done in about fifteen more minutes. I set the timer so it should beep when it’s done. And Jared’s front door keys are on the hall table.’

‘Thank you,’ I say, faking gratitude. What I really want to do is take the pie out of the oven and sling it into the rubbish bin. My anger is irrational, yet I can’t get rid of it. It’s bubbling up from my gut and if Darcy doesn’t leave in the next few minutes I’m likely to confront her over everything. I’m sure there’s something ‘off’ about her, but I can’t risk voicing my fears yet. Not without sounding like a total lunatic.

I tramp halfway up the stairs to call Tyler down and finally they leave. Once I hear their car pull away, I stand in the hall, my heart pounding like I’ve just run a marathon. Leaning against the front door, I close my eyes, trying to get my breathing back under control.

‘What are you doing, Mummy?’

‘Come here, Joe.’ I open my eyes and hold out my arms. ‘I missed you, baby boy.’

‘I missed you, too,’ he says, allowing me to give him a great big squeeze. ‘Why weren’t you here this morning and after school? I had to play with Tyler.’ Joe wrinkles his nose and wriggles out of my embrace, staring up at me. He’s still in his uniform and his hair’s all mussed.

‘I thought you liked Tyler?’

‘No. He’s not nice to me now. He says mean stuff. And he sometimes tries to hurt me.’

‘He hurts you?’ My fists clench.

‘Only pinching and stuff, but it’s annoying.’

‘Pinching?’

‘Yes, and he does this other thing where if I go anywhere near him, he falls over and pretends I’ve pushed him. The teacher told me off, but I didn’t even do anything.’

‘Oh, Joe!’ I have to restrain myself from calling Tyler something I shouldn’t. ‘Do you want me to speak to your teacher about it?’

‘No.’

‘You sure?’

He shakes his head, and I make a mental note to talk to Darcy about her son’s behaviour.

Behind me, I hear footsteps coming up the front path. The doorbell chimes. Joe and I move away from the door so I can open it.

It’s my husband. He’s standing on the doorstep wearing a sheepish expression, but I’m not in a forgiving mood.