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He held the fox against his cheek for ait to Maria, but if she noticed, she didn’t say anything

Seb watched as Maria tucked the blanket around Frankie, even as his little hands grabbed the fox and held it under his chin, its fluffy tail brushing his cheek For a moment he looked just like the baby Seb remembered Like no time had passed at all

He pressed a kiss to his son’s forehead and whispered, ‘Sweet dreaone to bed when Frankie had lived with him

Then he stepped back and saw Maria’s wary face, her shorter hair, her harder eyes, and knew that everything had changed

And it was his job to change things back again

Romance That was his way in, he was allected before she’d left—had thrown it in his face when they’d argued the night before she’d packed her bags and walked out

‘You don’t even see me!’ she’d yelled ‘Sometimes I’m not sure you’d even notice if I left’

But he’d noticed Boy, how he’d noticed

Seb ht, but he knew exactly what she’d have said Take care of your wife, Sebastian Look after your family

And so that hat he was going to do Starting with talking to Maria Listening to Maria Letting her kno o to keep her with him

Whatever it took

‘How about a drink by the fire?’ he suggested, softly, so as not to disturb Frankie Maria looked up at hiot a lot to talk about Don’t you?’

She should have thought about this ain And she had, to a point She’d been i this conversation for a year—ever since she’d left

But she realised now, too late, that in her head the conversation was always Seb talking, and her unable to get a word in edgeways as he listed her faults and derided her for breaking her e vows Told her what a terrible wife and mother she was How disappointed in her he was How he’d married her for only one reason, and she hadn’t lived up to her side of the bargain

Just like her father had done when she’d arrived home with Frankie

She hadn’t ever iether on the squashy, cosy sofa in their old suite, drinking good red wine in front of the fire, waiting for each other to start

Maria had never beento crack first

‘Look, I knoe have a lot to talk about And that you ry with me—’

‘I never said I was angry with you,’ Seb said, so calmly she couldn’t help but believe him

‘You’renot?’ she asked, just to check

‘I was,’ Seb admitted ‘When you first leftjust ask Noemi I was like a bear with a sore head for months’

‘She htly less polite words when it came down to it

‘But looking at you now’ Seb shook his head, a slight smile on his lips ‘I o’

Maria blinked at him Did he really know? Did he, at last, understand why she’d been unable to stay, been unable to see hih her every day? Did he realise how much it had hurt to be so close to him and yet feel so much difference between them?

No Apparently not

‘I mean, you seeuess,’ Seb went on, oblivious to how her heart was cracking ‘I get that I didn’t give you the attention you needed, that I worked too much, that you were alone with Frankie a lot of the time’