She was quiet, just taking it in. He felt a warmth spread over him. The lassie had been confused, had needed some guidance, some proper fatherly advice, and while he might have missed a few years, he’d been able to come through for her when it counted. They had this in common, the gift they had, the life they’d chosen, and he realized that he could help steer her through it.

‘I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s hard, this life of ours. The music. She’s a cruel mistress, eh? There’s the days when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from and the weeks when you just can’t bring yourself to play a note. I’ve been sick of her, so sick I’ve wanted to pack the whole thing in. Many times. But the joys, m’ghaol. You’ll know this. That feeling of setting a whole room dancing, taking them with you, getting them all to hooch and cheer and feel alive again. There’s nothing like that, now. Nothing else like that in the world. And once you’ve done it, once you’ve had that, there’s no way you could ever properly do anything else, could you now? I mean, where else would I go?’

‘So you were playing regularly in the States, then?’

‘Och, every night, lass. Still would if I could. Me and your stepmother would hit the road – she was a big star back in her day, was Anouli, could still pack ’em in – shove the instruments and a bag of clothes into our van and we’d be off for months, making music every night. Country joints and watering holes, some of them with stages the size of this table, some of them huge, hundreds of people; bottle of bourbon and our guitars under the stars on the nights we slept in the van. Your old man played in every single one of the forty-eight, so he did. Can you imagine? I’ll tell you what, my love, I could put you in touch with the right people if you ever wanted to tour the States. I know everyone on that scene, and they’d lap you up, with the hair and the accent. Your looks. Just say the word and you could be there.’

‘I don’t think it’s as easy as that. I’d probably struggle to get a visa, for a start.’

He didn’t really know what she meant but was conscious he had to keep the talk flowing.

‘Aye, aye, visas are tricky things, so they are. But just you say the word. Just you say the word.’

‘It’s not really where I’m at just now, you know. I haven’t written a new song for years.’