‘You work hard at something, and after a while you get kinda good at it. Then someone says, “This guy’s got talent.” And it isn’t yours any more after that. It’s like you’re a circus act or something. People just tell you to play because you’ve got this thing they call talent, like it’s everyone’s property.’ It felt oddly exhilarating to rant. ‘It’s just a word someone made up because they’d never bothered working at something till they were good at it. And it’s an excuse, like people are thinking – I haven’t got talent so I’m not going to try.’

‘OK,’ she said, grinning at me. ‘You are talented, though.’

‘Trouble is, everyone starts thinking that you think you’re really good. And they want to knock you down. You ever had that? You ever been put down all the time, had people telling you how grateful you should be, had people talk shit to you like you’ve got no feelings, all for something that you can’t even see yourself?’

She raised her eyebrows, slowly nodding her head. ‘You know what? I have. You bet I have.’ She drew her knees into her chest and took a drag on her cigarette in silence. ‘Shit. Never really thought about it like that.’

The shadows had grown long; the sun was barely peeping over the trees at the far side of the pond. There was the sort of muffled quiet that only falls in the damp air of a spring evening.

‘You’d play for me, though? If it was just me?’

‘Maybe. If I can remember how.’

‘You’ll remember.’ She made a show of shivering and bounced herself along the seat on her bottom so she was nearly touching me.

‘Probably.’ My voice wobbled.

‘Lovely hands,’ she said, looking down. ‘They always say that about piano players.’ She studied her own, as if air-drying her nails. ‘These are useless little shovels. Can’t do bugger all with these.’

I splayed my fingers, raising my hand to assess my supposed advantage. She held her hot palm against mine to compare.

‘See. You’ve got proper fingers.’ She let her hand linger, pressing a delicate warmth into me.

‘Are you cold?’ she asked.

I let my trembling hand fall away from hers, squirrelling it tight to my side. ‘I’m fine,’ I said as breezily as I could.