Read Chapter 1: — TWO WEEKS OFF

Maggie Mercer had three casseroles in the oven, a lemon tart cooling on the sill and four photographs of eligible women spread across the kitchen table when her son came home.

Daniel opened the door with one shoulder, dropped a weather-beaten duffel in the hall and barely had time to say, “Mum?” before she wrapped both arms around him.

“You’re thinner.”

“I’m wearing the same size jeans.”

“You’re darker.”

“I’ve been outdoors.”

“You look like someone left you on a motorway verge for twelve months.”

Daniel laughed despite himself. “Good to see you too.”

He had just finished a major rail upgrade in the north of England, a project that had consumed almost a year of early starts, night possessions and endless coordination meetings. The official opening had been on the evening news. Maggie had watched it three times and told every neighbour within two streets that her son had been one of the senior site engineers.

She fed him roast beef, potatoes and Yorkshire pudding as though he had returned from war. Daniel was halfway through a second helping when he noticed the photographs.

“No.”

“You haven’t even looked.”

“I don’t need to.”

“That one’s a secondary-school teacher. Very sensible. The one beside her works in pharmaceutical research. And Sarah’s niece is an architect. You’d have things to talk about.”

“I talk about concrete and drainage all day. I don’t need to come home and flirt over reinforced slabs.”

Maggie ignored him. “I’ve arranged lunch tomorrow.”

Daniel put down his fork.

She saw his face and stopped smiling.

“Actually,” he said, “I need to tell you something.”

The call had come before he left his previous site. Meridian Rail International was part of a European-led consortium building the Almar Desert Corridor, a high-speed line connecting two major Gulf ports with an inland industrial city. A critical section had fallen badly behind schedule. The technical team wanted engineers experienced in rail formation, ground improvement and site coordination.

Daniel had all three. More unusually, he had spent a university year studying Arabic and had kept using it on later overseas assignments.

“When?” Maggie asked.

“Tomorrow morning.”

Her expression emptied.

“You came home today.”

“I know.”

“You said two weeks.”

“I thought I had two weeks.”

She stood, collected plates that did not need collecting, opened a cupboard and closed it again.

Daniel knew better than to offer a speech about career opportunities. His mother had spent too many years hearing that another project mattered, another deadline could not move, another railway needed somebody more than she did.

At last she sighed. “Fine. Go save the world with sleepers and ballast.”

“Mum—”

“But you’re not taking those shirts.” She pointed at his duffel. “I saw the cuffs. They’re practically lace.”

That was Maggie: heartbreak converted immediately into laundry.

Later, while she packed new work socks and enough painkillers to equip a clinic, Daniel showed her how to make video calls.

“Press this.”

“I know how phones work.”

“You just tried to call the weather app.”

“It moved.”

He smiled.

She did too, eventually.

Neither of them said that both had become experts at departures.