She glanced at her brother; he was standing with a hand over his mouth, his adult cool momentarily lost in a rush of memories. But almost as quickly, he gathered himself and the confidence smoothed over his reaction as if it had never been there.

‘I take it that’s the dog? And our new sister?’ He nodded towards the lawn, where Molly and Lloyd had emerged from the studio and were walking self-consciously across the garden.

‘It is.’ Tara watched Toby’s face to see whether Molly stirred complicated feelings for him too. But it seemed not. Or else he was better at hiding them than she was.

Toby merely raised his eyebrows. ‘She’s very like you, isn’t she?’

‘Do you think?’ Molly was a lot prettier than Tara thought she’d been.

‘Yeah. Got your skinny legs. Got your frizzy hair.’

‘Shut up. You’ve remembered a present, right?’ She spoke quickly, trying to pack in the necessaries before Molly arrived.

‘Course.’ He paused. ‘She’s not allergic to airline pretzels?’

‘Toby!’

‘Duh. Of course I’ve got a present. I’m not stupid. I even took advice.’

‘Good. Molly! Come on in!’ Tara opened the garden doors and Molly shyly stepped inside. ‘This is Toby. Toby, this is Molly.’

‘Hey there.’ Toby held out a hand, shook Molly’s, then gave her a high five, all upbeat transatlantic energy. ‘Happy birthday! I hear it’s a very special day.’

Molly giggled, and her cheeks went pink. ‘This is Lloyd.’

‘Hi, Lloyd.’ Toby bent down and shook Lloyd’s heavy paw, then looked up at Molly. He had Dad’s knack, Tara thought, of striking exactly the right conversational note. And he was good with kids; Toby was good with everyone, being very confident in who he was. She felt proud of him. ‘Hey, Molly? Is Lloyd Branston’s half-brother? They look pretty alike.’

Molly turned to Tara, thrilled by the idea of another connection. ‘I never thought of that! Do you think he might be? Like, distantly? Like, aren’t all Labradors related?’

‘It’s not impossible,’ said Tara diplomatically. ‘Toby and I were going to have a cup of tea, would you like to join us?’

‘Yes, please.’ Molly hoisted herself on to a tall stool and swung her bare legs, looking between the two of them expectantly. ‘Milk, two sugars.’

Toby pulled out the stool next to her as Tara assembled the mugs and boiled the kettle. ‘So where’s Dad?’

‘Business meeting. One of his developer mates has bought Turville Court and wants to turn it into a Center Parcs for grown-ups. He’ll be back by lunchtime,’ she added, more for Molly’s benefit than Toby’s.