Fran accepted a couple of seconds of her father’s embrace then squirmed out from beneath his arm.

‘Shall I put the kettle on?’ she asked.

Hugging Jenna had been one thing but there was still something about the pressure of someone else’s body against hers that made her skin crawl.

‘Where’s Mum?’ Jenna asked as Fran set down the mugs.

Their father raised his gaze to the ceiling. ‘She’s waiting upstairs. I thought it might be best if I gauged the lay of the land first.’

Fran raised an eyebrow.

‘Your mother and I have been talking,’ her father continued. ‘She took some of the things you said on the phone to heart, Franny. Wait’ – he held up a hand as Jenna and Fran both interrupted – ‘let me finish. Your mother does love you both very much and she’s realised that perhaps she hasn’t been the best at expressing that love. And I’m as guilty of that as her. There’s to be no fighting today. We don’t want to upset anyone and, in turn, we don’t want to be upset.’

‘You’re telling us to be nice to Mum,’ Fran commented.

‘I’m not telling you anything.’ Her dad raised his eyebrows, a smile pricking at his lips. ‘I wouldn’t dream of it; you’re both grown women. But today is special. It’s important that we’re gentle with each other, that we’re kind.’

‘Oh for goodness, sake,’ Fran said. ‘Let’s not overdo it, Dad. Anyone would think you’d just lifted that speech from a SoulShrink tweet.’

She shared a look with her sister, and smiled.

Fran inputs her details into the Facebook sign up screen and presses enter. It goes against everything she believes in, joining social media. She’s read about data mining and targeted advertising and the last thing she wants is for some Russian oligarch to know what size knickers she buys from M&S and which newspapers she reads. She’s already sneaked a look at the Guardian Online and speed read an article about the demise of SoulShrink. Apparently, Kate’s recovering from her stab wound, Tom’s moved out of their flat, the SoulShrink Twitter account has been disabled and Erica/Renata’s trial date has been set.

But needs must. Jenna has created a private Facebook group for the family and some of her very closest friends to share photos and videos of Tama and there’s no way Fran’s going to miss out on such precious gems. Little Tama has captured the hearts of everyone he’s met, even his prickly grandmother, whose demeanour became almost marshmallow-like when she held him in her arms.