“Feel free to help at any time,” she shouted into the hallway, only pausing momentarily to be met with silence once again. “Fucking dick.” A mutter under her breath, a little harsh she reckoned in hindsight, but she was hot and sweaty and could have done with a little help carrying all the shopping inside, especially as she hadn’t had any help buying and bagging it in the first place. The next two bags were a little heavier, and she could feel that the one in her left hand was struggling with the weight of the items inside. As expected, the seam split and everything came tumbling out. Luckily, nothing was damaged in the fall, aside from a nasty dent in the two-litre bottle of milk, but she thanked her lucky stars that it hadn’t been worse. “Cheap piece of shit plastic bag,” she cursed as she scrambled for the items and tossed them into the bags still waiting on the porch.

It took her four trips to the car to get all the shopping out and she was drenched with sweat as she started moving the bags inside and down the short hallway to the kitchen. “Don’t worry,” she shouted, glancing into the living room along the way, “the mug has done it all now.” No sign of Joel in the living room, she assumed he was in the bedroom, fast asleep with the baby. Her anger dissipated at the thought, but she still slammed the front door on her final trip. If he had been asleep, at least now he’d be awake. But the sight in the bedroom was not exactly a pleasing one.

Joel was on the bed alright, though not in bed. Rather, he was sat upright with folders laid out before him.