‘A few hours. He was avoiding the paparazzi. He had a piece of my almond cake.’

‘And …’

‘And nothing. His minder came and picked him up once it was safe. End of story.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

Sophie frowned at her daughter, seeing the enlarged pupils, the slightly glassy expression. ‘Have you been drinking?’

‘Just a couple. It’s been a long, hard week. I’m going clubbing later, only … Look, I had a few expenses this week. Could you lend me a bit, Mum?’

‘How much?’

‘A couple of hundred? I’ll pay you back.’

‘You never have before.’

‘You’re so mean. You’ve got all that money and you grudge me a tiny bit.’

‘I work for the money, so it’s mine to do what I please with, and it doesn’t please me to spend it on getting you drunk.’

Andi laughed openly and squealed in a high voice, ‘Oooh. Drunk. How about joining the twenty-first century? Bladdered, trolleyed, slaughtered. A writer should be in touch with the words people really use, shouldn’t she?’

‘Being rude to me won’t get you anywhere. Besides, you should be working for your own money at your age, not trying to cadge mine.’

Andi’s face turned red and her voice grew shrill. ‘I’ll never get anywhere in that dead-end job, or earn enough to live even half comfortably. Dad wouldn’t have wanted me to spend my life slaving for idiots. He really cared about me. He didn’t nag me. And anyway – they sacked me today. So I can’t earn my own money at the moment.’

‘What?’

She shrugged. ‘They gave me the push, the heave-ho, said byesy-bye, don’t call us we’ll call you.’

‘Do you have another job in mind?’

‘Of course I don’t. I didn’t know they were going to sack me, did I?’

At times like this Sophie felt lost. She didn’t know how to deal with her truculent daughter, but didn’t dare let her go homeless – and Andi knew that, had traded on it before. ‘I’ll pay your rent for a few weeks, but I’m not paying for you to waste money on booze and clubbing. You’ll have to register for social security for your living expenses and—’

Andi jumped to her feet, shoving the empty plate away so hard it slid off the surface and smashed to the ground. ‘Put that on my bill!’

‘Sit down and—’

‘And what. Let you lecture me again? I’ve had enough of your bloody lectures. That’s all you do when I come round, criticise me. I’m going off to see my friends. They want me to be happy and have fun.’

She rushed out towards the front door.

Sophie followed and found her fumbling with the new deadlocks, kicking the door in her frustration. ‘Come and sit down again, Andi. We need to talk about this.’

The face her daughter turned on her was twisted with anger and … surely that wasn’t hatred? What had she ever done to deserve that?

‘Let me out of here, you stupid bitch!’