‘More or less.’ Grace blew her nose again. ‘Peppa’s not quite right.’ She managed a weak smile. ‘Guess I can always replace her with another one. Harrison’s only six, not sure he’d notice the difference!’

‘No, don’t!’ Tara hadn’t meant to speak but a memory pushed its way out with unexpected force. When Grace looked up, startled, she felt obliged to explain. ‘My dad ran over my brother’s rabbit, Simon, then replaced him with another one without telling us.’

‘Did you notice?’

Tara hesitated. This was the first time she’d told anyone about Simon’s demise and suspicious resurrection. Not her supervisor, not her therapist – not even her brother. She wasn’t totally sure why she was telling Grace now. ‘I saw him run Simon over.’

‘No way.’ Grace was temporarily distracted from the flooding. ‘Did you tell anyone?’

‘Well … no. Mum and Dad acted like nothing had happened and I was only eight so I … went along with it.’ Gaslighting, they’d call it now. Mum and Dad had instantly ceased their sniping for as long as it took to gloss over Simon’s premature end and source his stunt double. Tara supposed she should give them credit for that. Bronze parenting stars all round, Ruth and Keith.

Tara checked herself. She’d always been an expert compartmentalizer but over the past few months, the oddest memories had started tumbling out of her mental cupboards, often at inopportune moments like this, and it was getting harder to shove them back in and carry on. She frequently agonized about the further qualifications she’d put off starting, usually when facing the Centre’s tougher clients, but lately she found herself wishing she had some better strategies to use on herself. The problem was, further training would mean opening up all the mental cupboards, and …

Tara leaned forward, focusing her attention on her client. ‘So, to go back to your earlier question – how can you help Harrison’s nightmares? I’d say, be honest. He’s only little – he doesn’t need lots of detail but he does need to make sense of what’s just happened in his world. Let him draw pictures if it’s easier than talking. But don’t hide fear away. Yes, it was scary, and it’s very sad you’ve lost some things, but you’re both safe. Walk him through what you’d do if the river ever floods again.’

‘And if Peppa … doesn’t make it?’

‘Be honest about that too. You don’t want him demanding someone calls the Guinness Book of Records when the new Peppa magically reaches her nineteenth birthday.’ Toby’s insistence on his ‘miracle rabbit’. Her guilty silence.

Grace was looking at her curiously now. Tara wondered if her face was betraying the churning in her chest.

‘It’s amazing what people will believe if they want to.’ She smiled bleakly. ‘Especially when it comes to families.’