She steps back, rage beginning to rise again. A mistake? Like a mistake in maths which you erase so it looks as good as new; except that it doesn’t. If you look closely the surface of the paper is roughened; closer still, the tiny fibres have been torn apart.

‘It started in the summer,’ he continues. ‘Just a few times. My work was going badly; you couldn’t bear to let me touch you.’

‘So it’s my fault?’

‘Of course not. Eve was lonely, I let myself be flattered.’

‘Ah, I see. It’s Eve fault.’

‘Eve and I are done, Gracie.’

‘You really think it’s that easy?’

‘I don’t know what to say. It should never have happened; I know that. I’m sorry.’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ Grace says under her breath, glancing at the sofa. ‘We’ll talk about this later.’

The door bangs open again. Eve comes in followed by Eric. Snow rims their hair and eyelashes and they are covered in mud as though they recently emerged from the ground. They walk through the kitchen without a word.

‘Izzy isn’t here,’ Poppy sounds alarmed. ‘She was next to me a minute ago.’

‘Where’s Noah?’ Charley looks round.

Martin puts his soup down. ‘Let’s not panic now, I expect she’s taken him for walk. Any minute—’

‘It’s snowing, Dad,’ Charley interrupts. She sounds patient, as though explaining something to a child. ‘Noah’s too young to be out in the snow for long.’

At that moment Izzy walks through the door from the garden, Noah following.

‘The dog needed to go out.’ She kicks off her shoes. ‘He’s been stuck inside all day.’

They’d all forgotten about Noah until now. Izzy walks barefoot across the room and folds herself gracefully on the sofa; she puts an arm around Poppy who has started to cry.

Grace shivers; Izzy has left the door open, and the cold smashes into the room like a fist.

Melissa

‘Slow down, Paul.’ Melissa winces as the car lurches around a corner. They skid to a halt by traffic lights. There is a dull thump from the boot. ‘We’ll have an accident.’ She holds the dashboard as though braced for serious pain. ‘The road is icy.’

The car smells of alcohol; Paul has been drinking again. He knows he shouldn’t be driving though she daren’t point it out. If she’d realized how intoxicated he was, she would never have got in the car. He moves forward before the lights change, wrenching the wheel to the left. They narrowly miss a cyclist.

‘I’m sick of being part of that crazy set-up.’ He takes another left. ‘We should get Izzy out of there as soon as we can. They’ve lost two kids; can’t you see that something weird is happening in that house?’