‘She’s never going to get a job if she lies in bed until lunchtime, is she?’ Her mother’s voice, deliberately loud so Emer would hear her. ‘I’m sick and tired of her using Kitty as an excuse not to do something with her life. I never liked Nikki, but I don’t blame her for not wanting anything to do with her.’

This was followed by the rumble of Robert’s voice. Emer couldn’t catch what he said, but she could guess the gist of it. He would be quietly telling Ursula not to worry so much, that Emer would be ‘grand’ and all she needed was a ‘bit of time to work out what she wants to do with her life’.

Sure enough, a moment later, Ursula was off again, telling Robert that what Emer needed was a bit of discipline, not a stepfather who spoiled her instead of telling her to get her act together and grow up.

Again, Emer couldn’t hear Robert’s response, but she heard the heavy tread of his footsteps on the stairs a few minutes later, followed by a knock on her bedroom door.

‘Come in, Robert.’ She sat up in the bed, pulling the quilt around herself.

‘Sorry to disturb you,’ he said, standing in the doorway. ‘Ursula was wondering if you fancied a trip to the shops? She wants to buy you some new clothes.’ He smiled. ‘She seems to think a new wardrobe will improve your chances of getting a job.’

Dear old Robert, Emer thought. Always trying so hard to maintain peace between his wife and her daughter.

‘Only my mother would think that buying new clothes is going to suddenly make everything better.’

‘She’s upset,’ Robert said. ‘You can’t blame her for that, Emer. First you head off to London without telling her where you’ve gone. And then you come back with all this business about seeing Kitty. You’re not stupid. You must have known how this would play out.’

‘I thought she’d be happy I was showing some initiative for once,’ Emer said. ‘She’s the one who’s always on at me to do find a job.’

‘Not in London, though.’

‘Why not?’ Emer said. ‘I thought she’d be delighted to get rid of me.’

‘She’s already lost one daughter,’ Robert said. ‘The last thing she wants is to lose you too.’

‘She wouldn’t be losing me if I moved to London. It’s hardly the other side of the world, is it?’

‘Try not to be too hard on her, Emer. Losing a daughter the way she did, that’s not something any parent gets over. And, well, we both know there’s a lot of uncertainty around what actually happened the day your sister drowned.’

‘She blames me, you mean. My mother thinks what happened to Kitty was my fault.’