‘You still have to pass your GCSE. And get a good grade.’ Martin sighed. ‘Look. I know it doesn’t come easily to you. And you’ve had a hard year’ – that was an understatement; James had effectively missed most of the school year after Maggie disappeared – ‘and got behind, which isn’t your fault. But whatever the reason, you do need to catch up. And this is the way to do it.’

‘But it’s so lame.’

‘I know. Still, it’s only an hour and a half. And then you’ll be free. We can go to the game.’

‘Can I go to Louise’s house?’

‘Is she expecting you?’

James nodded. ‘I said I’d be there at lunchtime.’

‘So you don’t want to come to the rugby with me?’

James glanced at him quickly, but it was long enough for Martin to see guilt in his expression.

‘I do,’ he said. ‘But I told Louise …’

His voice tailed off; Martin patted him on the knee. ‘It’s OK, Jimbo. You want to see your girlfriend and not your old man. I understand.’ He gave a theatrical sigh. ‘I remember when you were a little boy how you used to trail around after me. You were like a second shadow. But now you don’t even want to go to watch the rugby with me.’

‘Dad!’ James said. ‘All right! I’ll come with you.’

Martin laughed. ‘That’s OK. I’m only kidding. Go and see Louise. I love you anyway.’

‘I love you too.’

They said they loved each other – Sandra, too – often these days. It had started after Maggie vanished; it felt urgent back then, necessary, a way of keeping the bonds between them visible and real. Now it was a habit, and a good one. Less urgent, maybe, but equally important.

At the time Maggie went, Martin had wondered what would happen to them. He had feared that he and Sandra would split up, grow apart, blame each other, and there had been moments when that seemed like it would happen, when they had reached a fork in the road and faced a choice about which way to go. Each time they had stayed together, and now they were closer – as a family and as individuals – than they had ever been.

It had spilled over into a renewed passion in their sex lives as well. Things had been a bit stale after they hit their forties, but now they had started to have more sex and – this was what surprised Martin the most – more adventurous sex.

In fact, since James had been going to maths tutoring, they had been taking advantage of his Sunday morning absences in ways which he would hardly be able to imagine, and which would probably have left him disgusted by what his parents were getting up to when he was out.