Cressida put a fruit bowl on the table. ‘We never have puddings in the middle of the day. But do help yourselves.’

Helena took an orange and pulled her side plate in front of her. ‘I love oranges,’ she said, ‘but would you really class them as pudding?’

‘There’s a lot of sugar in fruit,’ said Cressida, ‘which is why I limit it.’

Gilly didn’t speak but Helena noticed her press her lips together and then take a breath to say something. ‘So, what’s your “exciting plan”, Cressida?’ she said, making the inverted commas audible.

Cressida laughed. ‘Oh! I was going to wait until we were sharing a nice cup of tea, later. I’ve got some new organic herb tea that is a super detox.’

‘Let’s hear about it now,’ said Gilly, her words and expression jolly, her feelings obviously less so.

‘Better get your tablet,’ said Martin, who hadn’t said a lot up until now except to goad his sister.

Cressida came back to the table and sat down next to Gilly, pulling her chair in close. She laughed again. ‘You may not know this, but I have a terrible Rightmove habit!’ she tinkled.

‘Really?’ said Gilly, obviously genuinely surprised.

‘Yes!’ said Cressida. ‘And I’ve found something really rather exciting. Let me find it for you.’

Helena got up, determined she wasn’t going to miss out on any excitement going. Besides, the sooner the plan had been shared the sooner they could go home.

‘Look!’ said Cressida. ‘Isn’t it to die for?’

Revealed on Cressida’s favourite website – one which Helena was quite fond of too – was indeed a lovely property.

It was a mansion, with seven bedrooms, four reception rooms and multiple bathrooms. There was a tennis court and lovely grounds. There was even an outdoor swimming pool and accompanying pool house. Unsurprisingly, it was very expensive.

‘But you could never afford this, could you?’ asked Gilly, looking at her son, who had a very good job but surely not good enough to support the sort of mortgage they’d need to buy this enormous house.

‘And look!’ said Cressida, ignoring this question. ‘It has a granny annexe!’ She clicked along to the picture.

Helena leaned in. She peered at the double bedroom (double doors on to the garden), kitchenette, and living room which was big enough for a three-piece suite if the furniture was arranged more or less sideways. There was a huge television on the wall. ‘Hmm,’ she said, ‘I wouldn’t care to put my granny in there. If I had one.’

‘You could let it,’ said Gilly. ‘Airbnb, or just bed and breakfast. Would you want to do that?’

Cressida looked annoyed and disappointed. ‘Well, no, we wouldn’t want to do that. We’d want you to live in it, Gilly.’

‘Me? Why?’ Gilly sounded confused.