‘Very kind. She loves reading, as you know.’

‘She’s a credit to you,’ said Gilly, wishing her granddaughter were there in person. A little light relief would have been very welcome. And she loved Issi.

Martin handed her a glass. ‘Sherry, Mum?’ he asked.

She took the glass. She did like sherry but the Tio Pepe Martin served was very dry and she yearned to tell him she liked something a bit sweeter. A nice amontillado was much more her thing.

‘So,’ she said, having taken a sip. ‘Shall we get what I have to tell you over? Tell you now?’

‘No!’ said Martin urgently. ‘Not yet!’

‘It’s no big deal really,’ said Gilly. ‘It’s only that—’

‘Stop!’ said Martin, holding up a commanding hand. ‘Dad’s coming.’

‘What!’ Gilly stopped trying to be well-mannered and restrained. ‘Why? What did you invite him for?’

‘I thought if you were going to be telling us something potentially serious he should be here,’ said Martin.

Gilly took a breath, forcing herself to remember that Martin was away for most of the acrimonious divorce proceedings and she’d made a point of not telling her children quite how awful their father was. Helena knew a lot more, of course. It had been harder to hide it from her.

‘What I have to tell you, Martin, is absolutely nothing to do with your father!’

‘Well, it must be something important or you wouldn’t be making such a big deal of it,’ said Martin.

Gilly drained her sherry glass. This was going very badly. Martin was so hostile. Maybe she should just say that she wanted to get rid of his desk but not say why? But then it would look dreadful if the next time Martin and his family came over William literally had his feet under the table. And there was the party. She’d have to invite Martin and Cressida to that.

She took a breath. ‘Well, there are two things. The first is, I don’t want to sell my house but I do want to get rid of some bits of furniture. I wanted to see if you wanted them.’

There was a short, tense silence. Martin pursed his lips. Then he said haughtily, ‘Well, it’s a shame you don’t want to help out your family, but I accept your decision. And the second thing? It can’t only be that or you wouldn’t be here.’

If Martin hadn’t been such a serious person she’d have said, ‘You’ve got me bang to rights.’ As it was she made a non-committal little sound.