‘Perhaps put some coffee on,’ the estate agent said, striding from the kitchen to the dining room. I tagged along behind. ‘Courtyard could be brightened up. And maybe lay the table.’ I must have looked bewildered. ‘It all helps. Viewers need to see it as a home, not just a house.’

It is home, I wanted to tell him. Was a home…briefly.

That night I fell asleep on the sofa surrounded by wrapping paper and boxes, but I had found the percolator and the dinner service. In the morning I put the rest of the wedding presents back under the stairs.

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A Friday Fictioneers 100-word (or so) story inspired by the picture supplied by Jan Wayne Fields. Friday Fictioneers is organised and run by the wonderful Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Click here to join in, and here to read other pieces.

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This week I was delighted to be included in The Observer’s ‘New Faces of Fiction’ article. You can see it online here.

And for the next 15 hours only you can win one of five copies of Our Endless Numbered Days, via Goodreads. (UK readers only I’m afraid.)