Page 70 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

Yes, she should definitely have got up when Maddie came home and brushed her teeth.

‘What time is it?’ she says, reaching for her phone and answering her own question. ‘Nearly half eight.’

‘I’m gonna be late for work,’ Jack smiles.

‘Sackable offence,’ she says.

There’s a clatter of dishes in the kitchen, the sound of the kettle being filled. Maddie normally doesn’t appear till she hears the toast popping up from the toaster, but Louise is late this morning.

‘Maddie got home okay then?’ Jack says. There is silence for a moment, both of them listening to the noises in the kitchen: Maddie shuffling about, humming a Taylor Swift song gently to herself. ‘All Too Well’, Louise thinks it’s called. Maddie has been humming that one a lot recently.

‘Sounds like she’s making coffee. Shall we join her?’

‘Sure,’ Louise says. They can hardly hide in here all day. ‘You can wear my dressing gown.’ She gestures to the back of the door.

She watches as he slides out of bed and walks over to get the dressing gown. She slides out of bed herself and grabs a T-shirt and some PJ bottoms from a drawer.

Jack leaves the bedroom first, so Louise doesn’t see whether Maddie looks surprised at his presence, but when she herself emerges, a metre or so behind him, her stepdaughter makes an exaggerated shocked face.

Louise puts a finger on her lips, hoping to deter Maddie from making a comment, but it doesn’t work.

‘Aye aye. Good morning, Jack. Just popped in to show Louise your latest architectural drawings, did you?’

Louise winces, both at Maddie’s laddish tone and the reference to architecture, but Jack doesn’t seem in the least bit fazed. ‘Something like that,’ he says, grinning.

‘Coffee?’ Maddie offers. ‘It’s only instant. If you want the decent stuff, you’ll have to go downstairs to the bakery. Or there’s tea.’

‘I’ll go for tea, please,’ he says.

‘Coming right up.’

As Maddie flicks the kettle back on and plonks two tea bags into mugs, Louise notices how tired she looks. ‘You okay, Mads?’

‘Didn’t sleep much. Or rather, didn’t sleep at all.’

Louise tuts softly. ‘Oh, darling, why not?’

‘Theo. He isn’t returning my calls. I tried him four times. I’m beginning to wonder if he really loves me. He says he does, but… well, you know. Actions speak louder than words and all that.’

Finally, Louise thinks. Finally, the penny is beginning to drop. She has been waiting for this moment. She opens her mouth to speak, though isn’t quite sure what she wants to say exactly, but Jack beats her to it. ‘Nonsense, Maddie. Perhaps he was just busy. Out with his mates or something. Or working late? I’m sure he loves you.’

Louise knows he’s being kind, but she could kick him.

Oblivious, he puts his mug down on the worktop, still half full, and wanders over to the front window, peering down into the street below. ‘You know, I think I’ll put some clothes on and go and clean up that mess before anyone else trips over it.’

He walks towards Louise’s bedroom door and has his hand on the handle when Maddie pipes up, ‘Your clothes are in the bathroom, Jack. Your wet clothes.’

‘Of course they are.’ He changes direction and disappears into the bathroom.

Maddie fixes Louise with a hard stare and says, ‘What on earth happened in there? There was water all over the floor when I got in last night.’

‘I think the shower tray might be leaking,’ Louise says quickly.

‘Oh, I see,’ Maddie teases. ‘So is that why Jack came round? To try and fix it?’

‘Something like that,’ Louise mumbles, but she knows from Maddie’s face that her stepdaughter isn’t fooled.

‘Your clothes are in there too.’