“I’m not. Not really. I just slipped home to get some files. I’m an illusion.”

Gracie smiled silently as her father sat, his eyes glued to the screen.

“How was school, anyway?” he asked. Gracie shrugged.

“It was okay…”

“How were Poppy and your other mates?”

Gracie studied him. It was always easier to lie when no one looked into your eyes.

“Fine.”

Gracie’s dad typed his last message and closed his laptop. He pulled off his glasses.

“Okay, that’s done.”

He looked at his watch and blew out his cheeks.

“There’s some food in the fridge.”

Gracie’s heart fell. She knew what that meant. The negotiations were about to start.

“You don’t mind if I have dinner with Louise tonight, do you?”

Gracie got on with her dad all right. It was just that sometimes he talked to her like an adult. Which might sound like a strange thing to complain about when most kids just want to be taken a little bit more seriously, but it was almost as if her dad had already checked out of being, well, a dad.

“No, that’s fine.”

“You’re old enough to cater for yourself, aren’t you?”

“’Course I am.”

“I’ll only be on the other side of the phone.”

Gracie smiled and watched as her dad slid his computer into its case, tipped himself off the stool, and whipped his jacket off the chair nearby. He shunted his arms into the sleeves and straightened his collar.

“You know I’m doing this for us, right?”

Gracie nodded.

“I know.”

“Setting up a new business takes time … but it’s an investment. For our future…”

Gracie smiled.

“You got homework?” he asked. Gracie nodded.

“Better get to it, then…,” he suggested. He moved toward Gracie and kissed her head.

“Have you grown again?” he asked, and then he was gone.

Gracie listened to the door shut behind him and went to sit on the squeaky leather sofa overlooking the allotments beyond the garden. The starkness of the room a direct contrast to the messy, jungly patchwork of people and plants outside. Her dad had had the lawn taken up and replaced by plastic grass, the borders of which were sharp. Defined. Unnatural.