‘Mum, you haven’t rung about Wookie! You just forgot him.’

‘No, I’ll do that later, the vet won’t have any update on him yet.’

‘He might and Wookie could have taken a turn for the worse, he might be in agony, the vet said his life was hanging by a thread and the thread might have snapped in the night.’ Felix’s face was contorted with distress, his eyes huge. It was not long since he had sung ‘Morning Has Broken’ at the garden burial of the old cat Mephisto, part of the family since before Felix was born, and he had immediately transferred all his love and concerned attention to Wookie. Cat had recognised when he was less than three that Felix needed something with which to bond and about which to worry. Where his generalised anxiety came from she had never been able to work out but it was very real and she took it seriously.

‘Mum, listen, I’ve had a good idea. Why don’t I be your chauffeur today? We can drop Felix, then go to your calls, I can take any messages while you’re seeing patients, and ring the vet and whatever. You can relax a bit and just focus on the job. And don’t open your mouth to object. I haven’t got any other plans.’

‘Aren’t you seeing Rosie?’

‘No.’

‘I don’t know, Sam, the roads are pretty treacherous.’

‘I’m a careful driver. And I’ll do that insurance app to put myself on your car, takes five minutes, then just think, you get to spend quality time with me, as a bonus. Felix, if you poke the end of a knife in the toaster while it’s on, your hair will catch fire and you’ll be thrown across the room and hit the wall and it won’t be funny. Switch it off first!’

Cat went upstairs to see if Kieron needed help. His knee was still painful and he couldn’t bend it to put on his shoe, though her own observation was that it had improved rather more than he was prepared to admit.

The country roads were difficult but once they were nearer the bypass the surfaces had been well gritted and traffic was flowing normally. Sam’s driving was good, careful but not overcautious and by the time they dropped Felix at school, Cat had relaxed.

‘First call is out towards Highnam – about seven miles.’ She had already programmed the satnav. ‘You’re right, Sammy, it’s good to have a driver. I’m sorry last night was crazy and we didn’t get a chance to talk . . . How are you liking midwifery?’

‘All right.’

‘No better than that?’

‘Sorry . . . yes, I mean, it’s fine. It’s . . . yes.’