She nodded. ‘Like you, it’s the people I love. They all bring their stories; I see snippets of their lives and I enjoy making them happy. It’s why I like doing evening meals for them. It’s a service they need so I offer it. Value added.’

‘So don’t sell.’

‘But my children need the money!’

‘I never thought I’d say this but there’s a difference between need and want. Your children may want your money but they don’t need it.’

Gilly laughed reluctantly. ‘You’re right in Martin’s case. He doesn’t need to live in a mansion with a granny annexe – they’ve got a very nice house already.’

‘Which you helped them pay for,’ he said.

‘I can’t hide anything from my accountant!’ said Gilly, laughing properly now. ‘But Helena does need it.’

‘Does she? Wouldn’t she rather sort out her own problems?’

‘Probably, but I’m not sure she can.’ As a mother she’d never got over the ‘wanting to make everything all right for her children’ phase, even when they were adults. ‘What about equity release?’

He shook his head. ‘If you really want to do something, you should come in and we’ll look at all the options but really I think you should leave everything as it is for now. It’s too big a decision to make in a hurry.’ He paused. ‘Or because someone else suggested you should.’

After they’d got back from their tour, tired but happy, William stayed for dinner, dealt with the wine and was generally useful. Gilly reflected that her ex-husband, Sebastian, had never been useful like that. He always claimed he didn’t know where anything went and it was true. Gilly felt he could have taken the trouble to find out where things went. But it was a policy with him: he prided himself on not helping around the house as he was the one who put food on the table, as if that exonerated him from doing anything else. Sebastian had never changed a nappy in his life. Not part of his job description.

Now here was William filling the dishwasher and finding where the glasses were by looking and asking.

‘You are being amazing,’ said Gilly after he’d managed to locate some very pretty pudding plates she didn’t use very often but thought the ladies would appreciate. ‘You could have just played host in the dining room.’

‘It’s a pleasure to hide out in here doing things. If I’d stayed in the dining room my aunts would have started dropping heavy hints in stage whispers about my asking you out.’

‘Goodness me!’ said Gilly, hugely taken aback.