It was no surprise that the list was a lot longer than just a bottle of milk and a pound of butter. Outside, snow had fallen even more heavily, so once she had the list taken down, with each of the specific instructions about each item, Liv grabbed the keys of the jeep and headed for the village. Ballycove was breathtakingly pretty this afternoon, Liv thought, as she drove onto the main street. Everything was so crisp and white, idyllic really, beneath another layer of freshly fallen snow. But underneath it, she knew that the ground could be treacherous. She’d already felt the jeep sway on an icy patch as she’d rounded some of the bends on the journey from the farm.

The supermarket was fairly quiet, so Liv grabbed a trolley and began to fill it with the items on the list. Barbara really was very particular; everything was specified down to the last millilitre and flavour. It took an age to get exactly everything on the list.

‘Finally,’ Barbara said as she opened the door for Liv when she arrived with the first of the bags of shopping. ‘Really, where on earth did you go? Timbuktu?’ she said closing out the door and ferrying Liv into the kitchen. Then, because Barbara made a scene about her back apparently playing up, Liv knew she had no option but to put everything away, which was a nightmare, because of course, again, Barbara liked everything just so. By the time everything was packed in the cupboards Liv felt the onset of a nasty migraine. She pulled the receipt from her pocket. The total came to over a hundred euro. ‘Oh, I can’t possibly pay you now,’ Barbara said falling into her seat.

‘Are you all right?’ Liv asked, because the woman looked as if she was taking some sort of turn.

‘No. I’m not all right!’ she snapped. ‘I’ve been sitting here waiting for two hours for a pint of milk to make a simple cup of tea and all you’re worried about is your money.’

‘I’ll make the tea for you,’ Liv said, although all she wanted to do was get out of here.

‘And you can pick up what I owe you for the shopping from Eddie. I’ll let him have it when I’m feeling a little stronger,’ she said weakly, although from what Liv could see, there wasn’t a lot wrong with Barbara. ‘I might take some toast as well,’ she said then, ‘not too brown, just slightly golden all the way round.’