Cecily was on her way to the meeting in the community centre, having left her 14-year-old son Jasper a ‘to do’ list, more in hope than expectation.
1. Clean fish tank. 2. Feed fish. 3. Take Angus for a proper walk. 4. Put peeled spuds on a low heat. I’ll be back to do the rest. 5. Homework before telly!
She’d underlined ‘proper’, after coming home early one afternoon to find Jasper leaning over the front gate texting on his phone. Meanwhile, Angus the labrador was waddling up and down the road unattended, taking liberties with neighbours’ gnomes and perennials.
‘That is not walking the dog!’ she’d shouted, having been driven to distraction earlier that day by a flurry of texts from her ex-husband Darren. He’d wanted to know if he could take Jasper out of school a week early to go skiing with him and his new girlfriend.
‘No way!’ she’d texted back. ‘His grades are only just recovering from
