She probably expects Tor to follow her and to apologise publicly and make the peace, but she wants to go home. She carries on to the side of the house, where the car she’s borrowed from Declan is parked on the road, already pointing out of town for a quick getaway. She manages to get in and is about to start it when she sees her mother hurrying down the drive, waving.

‘Tor,’ she says, knocking on the glass, and reluctantly Tor winds down the window. ‘Come back inside. Let’s talk about this.’

Tor stops clenching the steering wheel and turns around to face her mother. She’s still wearing her bunny ears.

‘Darling,’ she says. ‘Darling. Don’t stalk off like that.’

Stalking off. That was always something her mother had accused her of. Even as a child.

‘I’m not stalking off, Mum. I’m leaving. Because it’s impossible to have a conversation in this family.’

‘You always expect people to have perfectly rational reactions when you give them news.’

So now her expectations are too high? She tries not to react to prove her mother’s point.

‘But I’d like to help. I’d like to talk,’ she says. ‘Are you getting treatment? For you know … for the condition? Is there anything I can do?’

Tor softens. She does sound like she’s genuinely concerned. ‘The sea swimming helps. It’s not all about moon cycles.’

‘Oh, ignore Graham. He’s only trying to be funny.’

‘He’s not funny, Mum. Do you have any idea how offensive I find him?’

‘Oh, come on. Try and get on,’ her mother says. ‘For Alice’s sake.’

And … there it is, Tor thinks. The first honest conversation she’s had about herself with her mother for decades and it’s swung right back around to being about Alice.

32

Bombshell

Maddy drives along her lane on Easter Monday, wondering exactly what Trent’s going to propose at this ‘summit’. Because that was the subject header of his email. He’s told her that they have to talk about something urgently.

Hopefully he’ll have some good news about their financial affairs – at long bloody last. He’s been avoiding her probing questions and she resents the fact that she’s not only used the last of her savings, Jamie’s education fund, but also has had to borrow a couple of grand from her brother to pay for basic living expenses. It was so humiliating having to ask.

She’s assured Toby that she was only suffering a temporary cash-flow problem until Trent’s business gets back on track. She didn’t tell her brother that she’s left Trent. It would take too much explaining. Because if she tells her brother that they’ve separated, then her parents will find out too and there’ll be uncomfortable conversations. She’s not strong enough to cope with their upset or concern.

Seeing the sleek glass and steel lines of her house, she thinks of everything she’s built and how much it once impressed her family. She remembers posting a series of Instagram videos of the crane lifting the colossal joist into place and how it had felt so scary. She remembers how her sister-in-law had commented that Maddy really knew how to style-out a hard hat. She’d felt daring … important.