WINNING

Ooh, Daddy! I very nearly won that time?’

‘You did, Ellen. One of these days, you will.’

Ellen grinned and held up Pick a Stick. ‘Yes, I will! Shall we have another game?’

I glanced at my watch and shook my head. ‘I haven’t time now, poppet. I’ve got a load of paperwork to do before tomorrow. Put the sticks away now, there’s a good girl. You can see if you can beat me when I get back from this conference.’

She gathered them up and slid them back into the box. ‘Can I have some juice and a biscuit, Mum?’

Matty cast a sideways glance at me. ‘Yes, I think that’ll be OK. Go and get the carton out of the fridge, Ellen, and I’ll get the biscuits.’

She watched as Ellen skipped out of the room, then turned to face me.

‘Couldn’t you have let her win for once, Ben? She tries so hard.’

I sighed. We’d been through this too many times. ‘Where’s the value in that? When she beats me, she’ll have achieved