‘I am.’ She headed straight for the range to warm up. ‘My feet’re like blocks of ice. There’s a darned great hole in this one – look.’ She took off her left shoe and held it up. The piece of card she had slipped in to cover the hole was sodden. ‘Umm, something smells nice. You doing a stew?’

‘After a fashion,’ Cynthia said. She had never had a very high opinion of her own cooking.

Violet was sitting at the table with Robbie, doing something with him, their heads bowed over a piece of paper. She had at last got round to getting some specs, and was peering through their pink plastic frames now. The first time she put them on, she’d said it was like a miracle – she’d had no idea that there was so much to see! She looked up and smiled. ‘Say hello to your mom,’ she said, nudging Robbie.

‘’Llo, Mom.’ He didn’t even look up. Violet made a wry face, and Em tried not to mind.

‘Joyce not back yet?’

‘No – she’ll be along,’ Cynthia said, handing her a cup of tea. ‘Here, get this down you, and come and sit down – I’ve got something to tell you.’

Em saw that she was looking quite cheerful.

‘Mom’s got a job,’ Vi said.

‘Oi, I was going to tell her!’ Cynthia said indignantly.

Em felt herself freeze, just as she had been starting to thaw out. A job – Mom! How was that possible?

‘What d’you mean?’ she said stupidly.

‘You know – a job. For money,’ Violet said, as if Em was a halfwit.

‘All right, you. Just ’cos you’re going to night school.’

Violet was a bright girl, and ambitious. ‘I’m not working on the factory floor all my life,’ she had said. ‘I want to get on – at least have a job in an office. So she had taken herself off to the Commercial School in the evenings.

‘It’s only cleaning,’ Cynthia said. ‘At The Woodman.’

‘Where’s that?’

‘Over in Cattells Grove.’

Em found herself full of a mounting panic. ‘But – I mean, why?’ She found she couldn’t cope with the idea. In all her years, Mom had never had a job outside the house!

‘Well, I wanted to get out a bit. And for the money – you know, the usual reasons, and I heard the landlord was looking for someone . . .’

‘But you can’t!’ Em snapped. She found herself close to tears. Mom not here, in the house the way she always was – it was unthinkable! ‘I mean, what about all our arrangements? What about Robbie? If you’re not here . . .’

‘I’ve told you, love,’ Cynthia said, taken aback by her fury. ‘It’s only mornings. I’ll be back to pick up Robbie as usual – wouldn’t miss it for the world.’