He’d shrugged. ‘Dunno.’ He opened his mouth as if he was about to elaborate, then seemed to change his mind. ‘Anyway. Now you know,’ he continued, heaviness in his voice. ‘I’m sorry. I feel as if I’ve let you all down.’

‘John, no!’ she’d exclaimed. ‘Of course you haven’t. You haven’t let anyone down – it’s not your fault. It’s just bad luck, that’s all. Really rotten luck.’

‘He’s gutted,’ she went on to her mum now, remembering John’s glum face. No doubt the redundancy was the cause of all those dark moods of his, the excessive drinking, the silent withdrawal from her. He hadn’t wanted to burden her, clearly. Somehow this made her feel even worse.

‘Oh dear. That is bad news,’ Alison replied. ‘Will you be all right for money? I mean, he’s been there a while, hasn’t he? They do have to give you a decent pay-off at least when you’re made redundant – employment law and all that.’

‘He didn’t seem to know what they’d give him,’ Robyn said. ‘I’m sure he’ll find something else, but . . . It’s such a shock. He seems so crushed.’

‘Poor John. It’s a blow to his manly pride. Your dad was—’ Alison broke off, the words hanging mid-sentence between them.

‘What?’ Robyn asked. That was two mentions of her dad in the space of a week; unheard of. ‘Did Dad get made redundant?’ she asked, wondering if it had affected his health, contributed to the heart attack that had ultimately felled him. Maybe she wouldn’t have a fattening home-made pasty for lunch after all, she decided, picturing her own heart keeping time inside her ribcage.

‘It was a long time ago,’ Alison said dismissively, before changing the subject back again. ‘Anyway, no offence, but I’m guessing your job doesn’t pay all that much,’ she went on. ‘So if you’re stuck, let me know, because I’ve got some savings put aside, remember. Or maybe . . .’ She cocked her head and considered her daughter. ‘Well, you said yourself not so long ago that you might look for a more interesting job again, didn’t you? So—’

‘Yes, but . . .’ Whoa, thought Robyn. They were leaping all over the place here. She’d hardly been able to digest John’s redundancy news yet, let alone start making plans for her own career revival.