When she went home, Craig walked through the gardens with her to let her through the gate, but she had to hammer on the door to rouse her mother, who was lost in her writing as usual, and in the end went to tap on the window of the office.

‘You’re hopeless, Mum. You’d better give me a key and tell me the pass number of the security system or I could be standing out there for hours.’

‘Sorry. I’ll just have to finish this scene while I can see it in my mind.’

It usually irritated Andi the way her mother could forget the real world when she was lost in a story, but today, for some strange reason, it made her smile. Her mother’s absent-mindedness felt like yet another proof that the world hadn’t changed that much.

She went to look in the fridge and see if there was anything for tea. Salad, as usual. It was surprising how curvaceous her mother was when she ate enough salad to be stick-thin. It wasn’t always true that people were fatter because they pigged out on food. She had a friend with a similar sort of metabolism.

Andi was glad she took after her father’s side of the family. They were tall and lean and though he’d eaten heartily, he’d never put any weight on. Poor Dad. He’d not lived to a decent old age. Being the same body type was OK, but she hoped she didn’t take after him for heart attacks.

She seemed to be seeing the world differently since it happened.

She’d ask her mum to go with her to pick up some stuff from her old place tomorrow, assuming she would let her stay here for a while. She didn’t think she’d feel safe anywhere else after dark.

In the meantime, she’d see if there was any music she fancied. Or maybe read a book. Her mum had hundreds. In fact she’d read one of her mother’s recent books. She hadn’t kept up, which seemed rude now.

It felt good to have nothing pressing to do, good that her mother wasn’t fussing over her. And she’d enjoyed playing with the children. From what Hayley had let slip, their mother had never played with them, only yelled at them to be quiet. How awful was that!

Three days later, on the Monday, Tom was scheduled to attend the hearing about the custody of his children. The lawyer had decided that Jane should go as well, both to prove he had someone sensible to look after the children and to give evidence, if necessary, about Gail’s drinking.

Donna booked them early morning flights to Manchester and arranged for Andi to come over for the whole day, promising to stay nearby in case she was needed.

‘I don’t think I shall be, though,’ she told Tom. ‘I watched Andi carefully when she was with the kids before and they were really happy with her. Jane says the same, that she’s really good with kids. And they’re going over for a dancing session with Jez in the afternoon, so honestly, you don’t need to worry.’