Was there any point going through them? Tara had been over it so many times in her head. The questions she wanted to ask weren’t the obvious ones. They weren’t questions, anyway. They were conversations.

Diane raised her wet eyes to Tara’s. ‘I wanted to tell you. But your mum didn’t.’

‘Why not?’

She shook her head. ‘She had … various reasons. I didn’t agree with them all. But the affair, if you want to call it that – it wasn’t the defining part. It was what got us both out of the wrong marriages. Our friendship afterwards was what was precious. Our support and our love and our companionship and our shared experience of life. Female friendship is magnificent, and complex. It’s spiritual. Your mum and I were friends. You knew that. What else did we need to tell you?’

Out of anyone else’s mouth, Tara thought, that would sound disingenuous. But not from Diane, somehow.

‘Obviously I wish your parents’ marriage had ended differently.’ Diane’s face flushed. ‘You have every right to be angry about that.’

‘I was angry,’ Tara admitted. ‘More about Mum and Toby – it was a shocking burden to put on poor Toby. But then I thought about the kind things you did for me, the kind things you still do. And I’ve reached the conclusion that I’m just not in charge of everything.’

‘I’m sorry, Tara. I don’t think any of us handled it well.’

She sighed. ‘I’m seeing a new therapist. I’ll get back to you if there’s more arising.’

‘And what about the house? Are you still selling? Or will you stay?’

Tara smiled, because she couldn’t help smiling when she thought about her plans for their house. ‘I’m staying. Toby’s going to run the studio as an Airbnb from his laptop. And we’re redecorating.’

‘Oh?’ Diane managed a smile. ‘That’s brave.’

‘There’s a bit of flood damage in the cellar so …’ Tara shrugged. ‘Good opportunity to ring the changes. I’ve been to pick up some colour cards.’

Tara had a particular shade of blue in mind for the kitchen-diner: the hopeful colour of the morning sky, when the storm clouds have passed and the new day, freshly washed and full of sunlight, promises to be the start of something even better.

A few weeks later, Tara put her packed lunch in the car and drove out to Troutbridge, and parked in the newly re-laid car park. It had a cherry tree in the middle, and electric car charging points at one end.

The Troutbridge project’s grand opening was booked for the end of October. It would be a family-friendly Hallowe’en celebration with apple bobbing, wrap up the mummy, fortune telling – and ‘a spooky barbecue’, whatever that meant.