Emily ordered a slice of carrot cake (‘The big bit on the end, please, not that slice with no icing’) and turned back to Tara. ‘And does this client want to re-establish contact?’

‘Not sure. I mean, she’s got a lot on her plate as it is, with the flooding.’

‘You don’t feel this might be an opportunity for reconciliation?’ Emily was looking at her intently and Tara wondered if her cheeks were as red as they felt. ‘Something positive coming out of a bad situation?’

‘No, I mean, I don’t know. He’s quite a … The father sounds quite a chaotic personality. Emotionally.’

‘OK. Well, I usually suggest a letter as a starting point, more for the client than for whoever they’re writing to. Sometimes it’s the first time they’re seeing what they feel set down in black and white. It clarifies the situation, and also defuses some initial emotion.’ Emily’s cake arrived and after a brief check of the icing level, she nodded at the waitress. ‘Whether they then decide to send the letter is another discussion.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Tara had written a fair few letters to her father over the years, most of them during the compulsory therapy during her own training. All of them remained unsent – and only sometimes because she didn’t have a forwarding address.

‘Having said that,’ Emily resumed, in a warning tone, ‘I strongly encourage clients to explore what exactly they want from renewed contact before taking it further. What they want realistically – not what their inner ten-year-old is hoping will happen. It’s hard for children of any age to stop idolizing an absent parent, even when they can see as adults what damage they’ve caused. Or indeed, holding them responsible for the resident parent’s version of events.’

‘Mmm.’

‘It’s funny, isn’t it?’ She waved her fork at Tara. ‘The problems I see over and over with family therapy end up being ones you have to fix.’

‘How do you mean?’ asked Tara warily.

‘Women sabotaging their lives with feckless commitment-phobes exactly like their dads. Furious men-children who want revenge on womankind because Mummy left.’ Emily dug enthusiastically into her cake. ‘Why don’t you suggest she books in for some separate family therapy? I’ll give her fifty per cent off her first session.’

‘Thanks,’ said Tara. ‘That’s very helpful.’

It took Tara several hours to write her email to Keith.

Deliberating over how to address him took half an hour. The rest of the message looked wrong with Dear Dad at the beginning, to the point where no other words would come, and Dear Keith was even worse, so in the end she took it out altogether and started off with a non-committal Hello.