‘Jesus Christ, dad, you scared the life out of me!’

He smiled at her as she leapt from the settee. He raised his arms to her.

‘Sorry, pet - I was having such fun listening to your fantastic voice! I did think at one stage of calling the police and telling them there was a murder on in here!’

Annie made her way across the room.

‘You’ll not be so smug when we’re late for Maggie’s lunch and then there really will be a murder on! Oh, I almost forgot, someone called for you when you were out.’

His smile faded.

‘Who?’

‘I dunno, he didn’t leave his name.’

‘What exactly did he say?’

She was still smiling, oblivious to his concern.

‘Exactly?’

‘Yes, exactly.’

‘OK, he said, ‘Awnie, is your Dawdie in!’

He pushed her away and jumped to his feet.

‘Annie, this is not funny, did he say anything else?’

‘Jesus, keep what’s left of your hair on, dad!’

‘I’m sorry darling, it’s just I wasn’t expecting anybody to call. Are you sure he didn’t say anything else?’

‘He said he’d call back later and it was nice to see me again, which considering I’ve never been to Ireland before, I did think was a little bit strange.’

Cormac felt his stomach churn and sat on the settee she had vacated.

‘What did he look like?’

‘About 6 foot tall, with dark hair going grey at the edges, piercing blue eyes, actually come to think of it, apart from the fact that he was about your age and had pockmarks on his cheeks, he was really rather handsome in that Irish unwashed sort of way.’

He wanted to jump from the chair, push her through the door and get out of the house as quickly as he could manage. Instead, he rose calmly to his feet.

‘Annie, pack your things - after lunch, we’re going to stay at Harry’s.’

He was a poor actor and she sensed his obvious distress.

‘Is something wrong, Dad?’

Cormac looked calmly into her eyes and allowed the politician in him to ease his daughter’s growing fears.

‘Nothing’s wrong, pet, it’s just that Harry’s got an 18-year-old daughter, nine bedrooms, nice wine, and a swimming pool.’

She was already on her way through the door.

‘Give me a minute, I’ll get my stuff!’

As Annie was getting ready, Cormac flitted from room to room, closing windows and doors behind him. His dear old mother had spent the last 40 years of her life in this tiny space. It had once belonged to the council, until his father had proudly bought it 20 years ago. It was once the most familiar place in Cormac’s young world.

Annie was ready. He stood in the hallway and tried to store the little place in his memory. He closed the door behind him and knew he would never return. As Annie waited for him in the hire car, he allowed himself one last glance and finally said goodbye to his childhood.