Izzy smiles as though she can read her mother’s mind; she probably can. ‘Done,’ she says, letting the cushion drop to the floor.

‘They live in College Road; it’ll take us ten minutes to walk there,’ Melissa tells her. They could chat. Izzy might open up on the way. She can see them now, like those advertisements for mini-breaks; a mother and daughter making their way through a park with flowers in the background, linking arms and laughing, special bonding time.

‘Walk?’ Izzy sounds horrified.

‘Okay, I’ll pop you over in the car.’ Melissa steps forward and holds her daughter tightly for a few moments, inhaling the clean scent of her hair. Izzy’s agreed to go, that’s the main thing – she won’t push for anything else.

‘Drop me off before we get to their house, though,’ Izzy warns, stepping back. ‘It’s not like I’m some little kid who needs to be handed over at the door.’

Melissa nods obediently and retreats to the kitchen; she’ll catch up with Eve when she collects Izzy after the lesson.

The kitchen is in the basement of the house, next to the gym and newly equipped. The grey concrete work surfaces are pristine, slatted pantry doors hide a small room of shelves. The dark slab of marble topping the island was specially quarried, an immense fridge-freezer hums quietly in the corner. Paul stores the old stuff in a shed; he prefers new things. He’s always updating something in the kitchen, the units or one of the machines. It’s important for an architect to be at the cutting edge of design, he says. He shows clients around their house from time to time. Double doors at the back lead to the courtyard and beyond that to the curving walls of the landscaped garden.