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Games? He was just making this worse. She must be thinking he was a right idiot. His phone went off. He opened one eye to read it.

Robyn: Great idea. I’m bored silly over here. See you in five.

He opened the other eye in surprise as a second message came through. A winking face.

The boys were delighted to see Robyn and the baby. She was rain-splattered in yoga trousers and a fitted top, her hair tied up in a scarf. She’d brought the baby bouncer too for Willow and pronounced it a life saver.

‘That baby gym has kept her entertained for ages too. I got a whole yoga practice in.’ She set the baby up in the chair and the boys took turns bouncing her. Willow squealed and waved her arms around like an old drunk at a party. ‘But honestly, I was crawling the walls right when you messaged. So nice to get out of the house.’

‘Tea?’ he asked and she turned towards the kettle.

‘I’ll make it,’ he said, ‘it’s your weekend off. How was it yesterday with the girls?’

Robyn grinned, sinking into the nearest chair. ‘Really good. They’re great. I thought they would be. Wren is normally a good judge of character. Always has been.’

‘How do you two know each other then?’

‘Grew up together, helped each other through all the usual rites of passage. First relationships, exams, college, falling out with parents, falling in love.’ She hesitated. ‘Let’s say we’ve been through good and bad.’

‘So how come you haven’t seen each other in so long?’ He pushed a steaming mug of tea and a plate loaded with chocolate chip cookies towards her. She nibbled on a biscuit before answering.

‘I had to get away for a while, and a while turned into a very long time. There’s just so much world out there to see, and I always seemed to get offered an opportunity just as I thought it might be the end of my travels. Like I wasn’t meant to come back yet.’

Her face lit up as she told him more about some of the places she’d been.

‘Weren’t you ever scared, travelling on your own?’ He felt like the question branded him a coward even as he voiced it, but she smiled and shook her head.

‘You just have to be extra careful. Planning routes ahead, charging your phone whenever you can, taking word-of-mouth recommendations for safe hostels and quality conservation work.’ She sipped her tea. ‘Although of course, now I’ll have to be even more careful. With Willow.’

‘So, when do you think you’ll give up travelling?’ he asked. ‘When Willow needs to start school?’

Robyn glanced across at her daughter and shrugged. ‘Maybe, maybe not. Depends what the universe has in store for me.’

His stomach tugged with anxiety at the thought of travelling and living abroad with a baby. The most he’d managed with the boys was the annual trip to a Greek island with Millie: their summer getaway. Before they travelled, Fox went into overdrive: he maxed out their travel insurance, carried a full first aid kit everywhere they went. Millie never questioned it, knowing where his anxiety stemmed from. A wife that went to the shop and never came back, who dropped dead from a sudden brain aneurysm on a Sunday morning when their second baby was only four weeks old.

‘You’re brave,’ he said, and he saw her surprise. But it was true. ‘You seem to face life head on.’

Her eyes met his and she scrunched up her freckled nose.

‘Not always,’ she said quietly.

‘Can we choose the game?’ Reggie asked, running in and pinching a biscuit.

‘Yes,’ Fox said, passing a biscuit to George to keep things fair. ‘As long as it’s nothing to do with water pistols.’ They disappeared, whispering in a feverish state of excitement, and a moment later slid a very unexpected box onto the table, one that Fox had forgotten they had in the toy cupboard. A game that got you in very awkward, complicated and compromising positions. And now, it looked like he was playing it with Robyn. She raised an eyebrow at him and his stomach flipped. This was going to be interesting.

‘Twister!’ Reggie shouted.

‘Robyn, left hand, blue,’ Reggie ordered five minutes later and Robyn placed her hand alongside Fox’s on a blue circle. She was close enough that he could smell her perfume. They were both bent across the Twister mat, taking instructions from Reggie who spun the dial with the enthusiasm of a mad scientist to call their next move. George was currently cheating, moving his hand whenever he thought they weren’t looking so that he didn’t fall over.

‘I’m going to beat you,’ Robyn whispered. ‘My yoga practice today was the perfect warm-up.’ Fox started to laugh, but that made him wobble, so he stopped.

‘No chance,’ he said. ‘I’ve never been beaten yet.’ It was her turn to laugh, but he noticed it didn’t make her wobble like it did him. She did seem rather sure-footed. And long-legged, judging from the one in front of his face.

‘Only because you’ve been playing with children . . .’ she whispered, her head close to his back somehow.

‘Dad, right foot, red,’ Reggie instructed and Fox stretched his foot onto the nearest red spot, which meant his foot was between hers, but at least he was stable again.

George managed his next move easily, grinning up at them.