‘Oh, it’s no trouble.’ She looked away and downwards. ‘Thank you for coming to see them. Shall I take you to the unit now?’ she then asked, realising that she still had hold of his hand as she stole another quick look at him. She promptly dropped his hand and folded her arms instead, wishing she’d kept the cardigan on now to wrap around as a comfort to mask her feelings of inadequacy. ‘Um, that is if you have time, you might want to … do other stuff first, or get a drink or something … I’m not sure what the plan is …’ She let her voice fade away, knowing she was talking too much.

‘Let’s get you both a cup of tea first, love, and then you can show him everything,’ Betty said, chivvying Ellis towards an armchair in the customer waiting area and beckoning for Grace to come along too. ‘Or would you prefer one of those posh coffees you like, Ellis?’ Before he could answer, Betty bellowed over her shoulder to Larry: ‘Can you go to the café on the corner and see if they do that macchiowotsit coffee that Ellis likes?’

‘Aunty, it’s fine. Please don’t put yourself to any trouble on my account. A cup of quintessential British tea would be perfect.’ Ellis smiled, placing a grateful hand on Betty’s arm as he saw the bewildered look on Larry’s face.

‘It’s no trouble,’ Betty said.

‘I could go for the coffee, if you like.’ Grace quickly intervened to save Larry having to go, and thinking it best to offer in case Ellis was just being polite and really did want a macchiowotsit. He was their guest, after all, and had come to help them find out more about Connie, for which she was very grateful, so it was the least she could do. But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Grace started to panic. Where was the café? It wasn’t between here and the bus stop, that was for sure. But it couldn’t be that far if Betty said it was on the corner, and she had asked Larry to go, and she knows he can’t walk a long way with his knee … so maybe it would be OK.

‘That’s really kind of you, Grace, but I’m sure you have better things to do than fetch coffee,’ Ellis said.

‘Honestly, it’s no bother,’ she replied on autopilot, missing her chance to quell the panic at the prospect of going somewhere new. ‘I’m used to …’ She stopped talking.

‘How about you both go to the café?’ Betty stepped in again and saved Grace from floundering even further.

‘Sure. Let’s do that,’ Ellis said. ‘We can grab a coffee and you can bring me up to speed on what you know so far about Mrs …’ He paused before pulling his phone from a pocket and going to check.