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“Fine,” Noah said, getting up. “This is obviously pointless. But we’re not done. We’re going to talk about this again when you’ve calmed down and had time to think about it.”

Hope showed him out of the house thinking that there wasn’t enough time in the world for her to consider his proposal and agree to it. Alice stood next to her and waved goodbye to her father, a sight that always left a little chip in Hope’s heart.

“How about we make some fairy cakes?” she said.

Alice’s face lit up. “Really? Can I decorate them?”

“Obviously. There’s no one else around here to do it, is there?”

Alice grinned and skipped off to the kitchen and Hope followed, her steps slower than usual.

THE CLASSROOM WAS barer than she’d expect. But then, she supposed that Ava’s kids had spent so long painting their desks and the floor that they hadn’t had time to make something to put on the walls yet.

Ava’s back was to Hope, but she turned as the door clicked shut.

“Ah.”

The black-rimmed glasses were on top of her head again, pushing back her hair and making her cheekbones look even sharper. “Ah?” Hope said. “That’s all I get? Not exactly a warm welcome.”

Ava put down the folder of lesson plans she was carrying and took a visibly deep breath. “We haven’t got off on the best foot,” she said.

“Funny that,” said Hope. “I don’t generally take to strange women knocking on my door holding bags of cat poo, but then, maybe that’s just me.”

“Listen,” Ava said. She was getting pale, a spot of color high on each cheek. But she took another deep breath and Hope could see that she was trying. “Listen, I’m sorry about that. But perhaps we could try and separate our work and home lives?”

Hope pressed her lips together into a tight line, but nodded. It was a fair enough request. Besides, they were about to be spending five days a week together for the foreseeable future, so some kind of compromise had to be made.

“Fine,” said Hope. “Home and school. Two different people. Got it.”

“Good.” Ava held out a hand.

Hope looked at it. “What am I supposed to do with that?”

“Well, traditionally, I think you shake it,” Ava said, a twitch of a smile on her lips.

Reluctantly, Hope took the hand. It was warm and softer than she’d thought and as she took it the idea crossed her mind that she might find Ava Stanford attractive.

It was an idea that she immediately dismissed as ridiculous. There were a thousand reasons why Ava Stanford was not attractive. She hated Rosie, for one. And the fact that she looked somewhat sexy with her glasses pushed up on her head did not in any way over-ride any of the nine hundred and ninety nine other reasons why she was a pain in the backside.

“I am very grateful that you’re here,” Ava said, letting go of Hope’s hand.

Hope took a breath to answer then had to remind herself to play nicely. “Thank you,” she said as politely as she could.

“You’ve heard the problem from Mr. Lowell?”

“Jake explained everything.”

Ava nodded and for a second Hope could see a flicker of doubt in her eyes. She couldn’t possibly be nervous, could she? Not this woman who carried herself with the confidence of someone far more important, who knocked on strangers’ doors, who flew halfway across the world for a temporary job?

What was there to be nervous about? Okay, she wasn’t supposed to be a primary school teacher, but these were only little children. It wasn’t like they were going to be an equal match in a fight. Not that Ava should fight her students, but still.

“So how do you want this to work then?” Hope asked, interrupting Ava who’d been making some kind of excuse for the exchange program she was on.

“Oh,” said Ava, looking surprised. “Well, I’ll teach, obviously, and, um, I think your role is to stop me doing anything stupid.”

“Like letting six-year-olds paint their desks.”

“Yes,” Ava said a little more coolly. “That’s about the sum of it.”