‘I can clear her room out on my own.’

‘As I said before, it’s going to be a hard thing to do. Better we tackle it together.’

She looked at him doubtfully. ‘And then?’

‘Then we’ll sit down and discuss the future together. And where we’re going to live.’

After breakfast, he led the way upstairs, unlocking the bedroom door and hesitating to go in. It seemed longer than five years since he and his ex had shared this room and yet in some ways it was as familiar as his own hand. Even though she was no longer here, it felt as if he was invading her territory.

Gemma must have heard her parents quarrelling during those last few months and had given him dirty looks from time to time as if all the fault lay with him. The final straw had been when he’d done an exchange for one semester with an American lecturer, a very prestigious opportunity to gain, and had come back to ice woman and sleeping in the spare bedroom.

He didn’t know what Judith had told their daughter about the divorce, but it must have been something that blackened his name because in spite of all his efforts, Gemma had joined her mother in keeping him at arm’s length after he moved out. Even on his monthly meetings with her she was cool, talking mainly about school, her grades and her friends.

Gemma’s voice brought him back to the present. ‘Dad? Are you going to stand there all morning staring into space?’

He shrugged. Why the hell had he started reliving all that? It was long over and he’d never be able to set the record straight with his daughter without Judith to back him up.

Sighing, he ran one hand through his hair, still dark, though thinning and threaded with more silver than he liked these days, and said quietly, ‘It’s not easy to turn out someone’s personal belongings, darling. Are you sure you don’t want me to do it on my own?’

‘No. I think Mum would want me to do it on my own.’

He wasn’t risking that. ‘Not a chance. But we’ll do it together if you wish.’ As she opened her mouth to protest he added quickly, ‘Where do you suggest we start?’

For once, Gemma refrained from making a snarky comment and shook her head helplessly. When she brushed away a tear, he even dared put one arm round her, but that was going too far and she shook him off.

‘Fat lot you cared about her.’

He looked at her in surprise. ‘Of course I cared and I care deeply that she’s dead so young. Whatever gave you that idea?’

‘You were the one who was unfaithful while you were in America. So you can’t have loved Mum.’

‘Ah. So that’s what she told you.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, it isn’t true.’

‘Don’t lie to me. She told me all about it. Someone wrote to her about it.’

Not possible because it had never happened. ‘I was never unfaithful to her in the whole time we were together.’ But he suspected that Judith had been unfaithful to him while he was in America. Why else would she suddenly want a divorce?