It seemed only five minutes ago that Richard went to the station to pick up Chloe, and now they were here. I was so excited. Finally, I would meet my stepdaughter for the first time, and Chloe would meet her baby sister Evie.

Richard was over the moon that his daughter wanted to come back into his life. Youll love her, he’d said, beaming. Shes very sweet. She just had a wobble about me marrying again, but thats over now.

Well, she was going to find out she had nothing to worry about. Id been fantasising non-stop about the two of us becoming close. I had visions of us baking together while Richard was at work, chatting about her boyfriends, her studies, what kind of job shed like to do. I would be someone she could rely on, someone she could talk to when she would have spoken to her mum if shed still been alive.

Anyway, lets just say things haven’t quite worked out that way.