‘Yes, but they kept catching your father’s clothes as he went through to the garage, so I put lavender there instead.’

‘How lovely! You must smell it as you brush past,’ Laura said.

Her father turned to her as he put the front-door key in the lock. ‘Can’t say I’ve noticed.’

Laura followed her parents into the house, trying to fight the feeling of depression she always felt when she visited them.

‘I think I must have grown!’ she said brightly. ‘Everything seems to be smaller!’

‘I don’t think so, dear. Everything’s the same as it was. Once you’ve got the house how you like it, there seems no point in changing it.’ She put the kettle on. ‘Would you like tea? Or shall I open the bottle of wine I bought?’

A glance at the kitchen clock told her that at Somerby the wine would have been opened at least half an hour ago. She felt horribly disloyal. These were her parents, this was the home she’d grown up in, and she was comparing it unfavourably with what was virtually a stately home. She knew that children did sometimes change when they left home and went to university, but she hated herself for doing it. On the other hand, as she warmed the pot, making tea for her parents, she wondered, if she had changed, really, or if she just had never fitted in.

‘So what have you been up to, Mum?’ she said, finding knives and forks so she could set the table.

‘Nothing much, dear. We lead quiet lives really. You know that.’

While she put three table mats on the kitchen table she waited for her mother to ask her what she’d been up to, in return. But she didn’t. Laura fetched the cruet from the sideboard in silence. Surely her mother must be a bit curious about Laura’s new life? Apparently not.

‘Can you call your father? It’s ready and there’s a television programme I want to watch later. Have you got a television now?’

At last, some expression of interest! ‘Um, yes. There is one in the house I’m staying in.’ She waited for a question about the house. None came. ‘And I can get English channels too, but I don’t watch it much. I’m not in the habit of it. Besides, I’ve been really busy since I moved to Ireland.’

‘I never miss an edition of Midsomer Murders if I can help it. Oh and I like that one with the two gardening women as well.’

‘I’ll go and get Dad,’ said Laura.

Her father was a bit more interested in her life than her mother. ‘So, are you going to manage on the money?’

‘Oh yes, I think so. Of course being freelance isn’t as secure as having a salary—’ It was out before she could stop herself. Her father pounced on it.