“Sorry I’m a bit late. One day a shoot will end on time and I might actually turn up without needing to apologize.” She looks at Audrey and tries to smile but something seems to stop her.

“Not to worry. Mia’s fine.” The deception scratches at Audrey’s throat and she looks away, fearful the duplicity may be etched on her face.

She hears Jess close the door behind her, hears her daughter’s footsteps follow her across the wooden floorboards and down the stairs, Audrey’s heart thudding with every step.

All she has to do, she thinks, is get Jess into the kitchen, allow her to view the scene in the garden, and there is a chance everything will be OK.

As they reach the bottom of the stairs, Audrey hears a sharp intake of breath behind her.

“What the hell is she doing here, Mum? Where’s Mia?”

There is venom in Jess’s voice which burrows under Audrey’s skin. Lily’s head whips around and Audrey sees the anxiety shadowing her eyes. When Audrey begins to speak, her voice is strained, high-pitched, as though it is being squeezed through the holes of a sieve. “Mia’s in the garden. She’s fine. She’s having a lovely time.”

Audrey feels a rush of air as Jess brushes past her, ignoring Lily, storming toward the patio doors. “Stop! Jess, please. Just listen to me. Mia’s with Phoebe. They’ve been having such a nice time. If only you’d watch them just for a minute . . .”

Audrey’s words dissolve in the face of Jess’s fury. “You’ve had them both here? Together? How dare you, Mum? How dare you?”

Audrey tries to speak but all the moisture seems to have evaporated from her mouth. When she hears a voice it is not hers but Lily’s.

“Don’t speak to Mum like that.”

Audrey watches, paralyzed, as Jess turns to Lily for the first time. “Then don’t agree to have your child anywhere near my daughter.”

“I didn’t. I didn’t know anything about it.”

Jess turns toward the garden, her sneakers already over the threshold to the patio when Audrey finally finds her voice again. “Don’t go out there, Jess, please. Lily didn’t know until a few minutes ago. Neither of you knew. It was my idea—”

“I don’t care, Mum. I don’t care who knew what or when. When will you finally get it? I don’t want anything to do with her and I don’t want her anywhere near my daughter. How many times do I have to tell you?”

Audrey feels the error of her judgment coiling into a fierce knot in her stomach. “I didn’t think you’d be this angry. I thought . . . I thought if you could see them together—”

“You thought what? That we’d all play happy families? That I’d forgive and forget? That is never going to happen. Never. And as for you . . .”

Audrey watches as Jess turns toward Lily. There is such hatred in her expression that Audrey can hardly bear to see it but neither can she tear her eyes away, like a voyeur at a car crash.