When she met police officer Martin Crowe at a kid's judo class, Louise felt a frisson of attraction. They became friends and after a while, romance blossomed. However, Louise was taking on Martin's daughter, Kayleigh, too. As she didn't have children, Louise didn't know how to behave around Kayleigh – who worshipped her from the start. Louise muddled through with advice from Diane and Martin and Kayleigh moved into the Woolpack with Louise. They were happy together until Martin learned that Sam Dingle had helped his wife, Alice, die of terminal cancer, and set out to arrest him. Louise stood by Martin, causing friction between her and Diane and during a row, Diane mentioned Louise's involvement in Ray's death, which Martin overheard so Louise had to come clean. Martin promised not to report her but ended their relationship so Martin and a tearful Kayleigh moved out of the Woolpack. Devastated as Louise had thought Martin was "the one", she blamed Diane for the break-up and deliberately sold her share of the Woolpack to someone who Diane wouldn't like working with, her sister, Val Lambert, putting the money into the B&B with her ex, Terry and his girlfriend, Jean Hope. They had planned to buy the B&B together but Jean couldn't raise the money needed so Louise stepped in.