‘Nothing to say.’ Roma’s breath caught. ‘I’m going to Scotland today so I’ll at least have work to take my mind off things. Look, darling, don’t worry about us. We’re big enough girls to sort out our own mess. You enjoy your trip and tell us – me – about it when you get home.’

Not feeling any better at the dismal way Roma had corrected ‘us’ to ‘me’, after Lily had ended the call she dialled Patsie.

Patsie answered almost straight away. She sounded cautious. ‘Lily, this is a nice surprise.’

‘I just wanted to touch base,’ Lily explained, taken by surprise by Patsie’s tentative tone. Surely there wasn’t going to be a divide between them because other things had changed? ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch since I got the news,’ she went on, though feeling Patsie could just as easily have contacted Lily, ‘but you probably know I had a mishap on Saturday and had to rearrange a lot of stuff so the trip to Switzerland could go ahead—’

‘Mishap? No, I didn’t know.’ Patsie sounded puzzled.

Lily halted. She’d assumed either Zinnia or Roma would have filled Patsie in … but maybe that was how things used to be. ‘Just a bruised hand,’ she said lightly. ‘Anyway, are you OK? I couldn’t believe it when Zinnia told me about you and Mum.’

Patsie sounded awkward. ‘I’m sorry, darling, I can’t really chat right now. I have to be in court this morning so I need to get myself in gear. Have a wonderful time and we’ll talk when you get home. Bye!’ Then she was gone.

Lily put her phone down, thinking how distant Patsie had been, flustered even. It was uncomfortable to realise that Patsie’s ‘new lady’ might have been listening. Even worse if she wasn’t, because Patsie really hadn’t seemed to want to talk to Lily.

For the first time Lily was aware of one of her parents not being related to her by blood. It wasn’t a nice feeling.

Max was to pick Lily up at eight fifteen. She threaded herself into her coat and sling, Doggo trailing behind her with a slowly waving tail. ‘Sorry,’ she whispered to the big Dalmatian. ‘I can’t take you with me.’ She went to wait outside the front of the house.

People were out along the street with snow blowers and snow scoops, heaping up last night’s snowfall to access drives and garages. The icy air pinched Lily’s cheeks and earlobes and she was thankful for her thermal base layer and boots. The sky was achingly blue, making her glad of her sunglasses in the glare of sun on snow.

Max arrived promptly, cheeks pink. ‘Los is going to meet us there. He’s taking a great personal interest in your project.’

‘How far is it?’ Lily struggled to manage her seatbelt one-handed.