She was interrupted by a knock at the door and Olivia jumped up, as if grateful for a chance to get away from the conversation. Lorna finished the last of her now lukewarm tea, still reeling. What must be going on in Olivia’s mind to have walked out of the family home like that, to have slept in her own car rather than in the marital bed? She must have been desperate to get away. What kind of man had she married? More to the point, what might she be doing with herself now, if Lorna and Roy hadn’t come along in the nick of time?

Her fingers trembled on the mug, trying to make sense of it all as her feelings whirled. Roy had warned her, hadn’t he; he had said that Olivia seemed fragile and not to go interfering – and he’d been right. But had Lorna listened? No. She’d gone blundering in with her lemon cake and interfering questions, like she always did, driven by her own selfish longing. She didn’t know Olivia any more; it was none of her business to go poking around in her life, none at all.

Guilt jabbing her like pinpricks, she got to her feet and took the mug over to the kitchen sink, unable to avoid overhearing the conversation at the front door.

‘Oh, there was no need, honestly,’ Olivia was saying. ‘It wasn’t as if I had to go out of my way or anything. That’s very kind of you.’

‘Yes, but it was so kind of you to bring her back, really decent,’ another woman was saying in a fast, rather breathless sort of voice. ‘I was out there driving around like a maniac, trying to find her – I don’t know if Izzie told you, but we’d had a bit of a bust-up earlier.’

‘No, she didn’t say anything, but . . . Sorry, do you want to come in?’ Olivia asked. ‘You don’t have to stand on the doorstep.’

Feeling self-conscious about loitering there within earshot, Lorna rinsed the mug, splashing it noisily, even though there was a perfectly good dishwasher that Roy had plumbed in himself not two years ago. She was tired, she thought, noticing the ache in her knees as she stood there. She could do with a holiday herself really – get away from the area, take a break from running this place. Roy pestered her now and then with adverts for cruises, winter getaways, special package deals he had found on the Internet. Mmm, maybe, she said each time, but they never actually went anywhere. She hadn’t done so for years, in fact. How could she, though, when Aidan was still here? How could she possibly leave him, cold in the ground and all alone?