‘Are you?’

She shrugged. ‘Not bad. Mum taught me.’

‘Then you can cook the evening meal and I’ll clear up after it.’ He could see her thinking this over and was hard put not to sigh in relief when she nodded.

It wasn’t all bad living in his old home. He’d forgotten how quiet it was in a single dwelling compared to a large block of flats with mainly younger occupants and associated social events.

After breakfast, Gemma vanished and Adam found her in her mother’s room, fiddling with the things on the dressing table.

He cleared his throat to gain her attention. ‘Do you want to start clearing out your mother’s room?’

‘Not yet. When I can face it.’

‘It’s better that we face it together. If you don’t want to start till after the funeral, that’s all right by me.’

She stared at him, then gave a reluctant nod.

‘I’ll lock her bedroom door until then so the cleaner won’t go in there.’ He definitely didn’t want Gemma going through things on her own. He knew from friends that nasty surprises sometimes showed up when clearing out houses after a death.

‘You have no right to lock me out of Mum’s room! How did you find the key? She never used it.’

‘I was looking for a front door key among the spares. Judith had labelled them all, luckily. She always was well organised about details. I can let you into her bedroom any time you need something.’

‘As long as you stay out as well, I’d rather get the funeral and the exams over first, anyway,’ she muttered.

‘I wondered if you’d like to redo this year and take your final exams next year? After all, you’re a year ahead of the other students.’

She shook her head. ‘No. I’m ready now, really. I’ve been studying hard and I’m still getting As. I want to do Mum proud.’

‘Good for you. Anything I can do to help, just let me know.’

‘Don’t your students have exams?’

‘We assess during the year, mainly. My area of IT is a very practical, hands-on set of skills, more of that than theory. And I’m dealing with a postgraduate course mainly.’

Somehow the two of them rubbed along together in the house. Gemma alternated between being hostile and suspicious, and being extremely needy emotionally, trying his patience a dozen times a day, not to mention contradicting herself from one day to the next.

He waited till after the funeral and her exams were over to raise the subject of Judith’s room again.

‘We need to clear out your mother’s things now.’

Tears welled in her eyes. ‘My friend said you’d want to do that, get rid of every sign of Mum.’

‘Well, she was wrong about why we’re doing it, but I can’t see the point of keeping some things, like Judith’s clothes. You won’t want to wear them, will you? No, I thought not. Though you can keep a few as mementoes if you like. Your choice.’