‘Gar,’ I shouted, but she didn’t move and I was beside her now, my hand on her shoulder, shaking her as vigorously as I dared. She was so thin she felt like a rag-doll, like I might snap her clean in two, and I realised the horrible smell was the smell of lilies. ‘Gar, wake up!’ I cried, and then she did, she started and looked up at me, bewildered and confused, blinking her faded rheumy eyes. ‘Lily?’

I shocked myself by bursting into tears. ‘Oh, Gar.’ I hugged her frail form, pressing my face against her crumpled cheek, her skin as soft as ash. ‘It’s Maggie, not Lily. I thought – I thought you were dead.’

‘Don’t upset yourself, Maggie.’ Susan came in bearing a tea-tray. ‘She’s as right as rain, honestly. Aren’t you, Vera, love?’

‘I’m sorry.’ I was embarrassed by my loss of control. ‘She just gave me a bit of a fright, that’s all.’

Gar patted my hand kindly as I wiped my eyes, although I knew she still had no idea who I was. ‘Pretty girl,’ she murmured. Her wedding ring was so big these days that it rattled round her bony finger, clicking on my skin as she patted me. Susan shook her head as she set the tray down on the table.

‘I’m glad you’re here.’ Susan offered me a tissue from the box by Gar’s bed. ‘I didn’t want to panic you on the phone, but I’ve been a bit worried by these calls she’s started getting.’

‘What calls?’

Susan pulled Gar’s hair gently back into its bun, hairpin between her lips. ‘Someone keeps ringing and asking for Vera Knowles. They wouldn’t say who it was until this morning, when they finally announced they’re a friend of yours.’

‘A friend?’ I frowned. ‘Is it a man or a woman?’

‘A woman. She’s perfectly polite but – I don’t know. I don’t want to be rude, but she gives me the willies, you know.’ Susan patted Gar’s head fondly and stooped to pour the tea.

‘What does she sound like?’

Susan pursed her lips, her big face ruddy with disapproval. ‘It’s hard to say really. Quite posh, I suppose. And she just won’t say what she wants. But she’s rung every day for the past three days now, the bugger, and this morning she rang four times before lunch. We’ve explained you don’t live here, and we’ve offered to take a message, but she just keeps ringing back. She’s becoming a bit of a pest, to be honest.’

Exhausted suddenly, I flopped into the small armchair opposite my grandmother and accepted the tea Susan passed me. ‘Thank you. How weird.’

Gar suddenly turned and smiled at me, and her eyes held that lucid light that I had come to long for. ‘Is Alex with you?’