It is one hour before Camilla’s life changes, though she doesn’t yet know it.

All she knows, right now, as she cleans the high chair while Polly sits on her play mat after breakfast, is that her husband isn’t here. He’s gone somewhere, left her to deal with Polly’s first day of nursery and Camilla’s return to work by herself. Has he got a deadline? Has she forgotten some urgent project?

But Cam doesn’t forget things. Luke, actually, forgets things. So…?

Sunlight enters stage left in her kitchen in three distinct shafts. It’s a perfect June day, and Cam woke up a mixed bag of emotions: nervous but excited, sad, happy—her first day back at work after a long nine-month maternity leave. She sometimes longs for words in the English language that don’t exist, and today is one such occasion. Trepidation, excitement…when she woke up, she thought: Nope, none of them cut it.

And Luke has chosen today to disappear.

He must have some work thing on. He’s a ghostwriter, for MPs and celebrities, and has a co-working space he heads to when he needs to think. That’ll be it. She won’t think about it anymore. Won’t ruminate on it—definitely not, absolutely no ruminating, Cam thinks, gripping the dishcloth too tightly.

She watches as Polly leans forward to grasp a toy that’s sitting just out of reach. She’s so like Luke. Lean, blond, a disposition as sunny as the weather outside. Cam watches as she picks up the toy and throws it, a wobbly, random baby throw that could be deliberate, could be an accident. Funny, Cam’s always liked people-watching, but her baby is next-level.