As he crossed to his car, Simon was pleased to be going back to the peace and tranquillity of Cathedral Close.

And then his phone rang.

‘Uncle Si?’

‘Hannah! Hi, honey, how are you?’

‘More to the point, where am I?

‘Right.’

‘Could you be an angel and pick me up from Bevham station?’

Since she had been at stage school and then working in the theatre, inevitably his niece had changed, grown up and become independent, but as Simon watched her come through the ticket barriers, he realised that, essentially, she had not changed at all. Her hair was blonde instead of its natural brown, because of her recent pantomime role, but it was tied back in the old ponytail, she was wearing jeans and a parka with a fur collar that he recognised from at least two winters back, and she carried her things in a rucksack she had inherited from Sam, and her face was free of make-up. She might have been twelve again, not eighteen.

She flung her arms round him and gave him a tight hug, before taking the rucksack off and handing it to him.

‘Sorry, I know you weren’t planning on being my Uber, only Sam was on shift until later and Mum was out on calls. S’pose I should learn to drive soon.’

‘Do you need a car in London?’

‘Couldn’t afford one even if I did.’

He put her bag into the boot. ‘That’s assuming you’ll be staying in London of course. If not, you probably should start driving.’

‘Oh I’ll be staying in London all right.’

Hannah’s face was like her face aged five, on Christmas morning.

‘Tell,’ Simon said.

‘Oh . . . oh oh oh I really want to but . . .’

‘No, your mother comes first.’

‘I’ll tell everyone at once, only I don’t know when Sam will be at the farmhouse.’

‘Sam is living at the farmhouse.’

‘What?’

‘Ah. Sorry, you didn’t hear me say that.’

‘Sam never says anything to me about anything – he’s more likely to tell the dog than his sister. What’s happened?’

‘He’ll tell you, Hanny, it’s not for me, and anyway I honestly don’t know much except that he and Rosie split up.’

‘No bad thing, if you ask me.’

‘Why do you say that? They seemed pretty happy.’

‘Come on, Uncle Si, he’s far too young. He doesn’t seem to know his own mind about anything.’

‘Whatever. So he’ll be home later I imagine, plus your ma because she’ll hand over at eight, and Kieron should be back. If . . . you count him, don’t you?’

‘What, as family? Of course I count him. Don’t you? No, I guess it’s harder, him being your boss and all.’

‘Doesn’t affect anything, we made a pact about that right at the start and it’s worked.’

‘And you’ll be there.’

‘Depends if I’m invited.’