‘So, you’ve been here for years, then? At the shop. And in Haringey?’ I try not to sound bitter and disgusted. I try to sound like I’m just making small talk.

‘Yes, I’ve always lived in Haringey.’

Well, not always, I think. There were all those squats, and once you lived with us. ‘How long have you worked at that travel agent’s?’

‘Six years.’ Such a quiet voice, I can barely hear what she is saying. ‘I—’

‘Let’s go in here,’ I say.

We stop outside Harry’s, the coffee shop near the key cutter’s. It always looks cosy, whenever I walk past. Workmen on a break supping tea. Teenage girls enjoying a cheese-and-ham toastie during a college lunchbreak. Mothers and daughters chatting over a coffee and a bun.

‘What would you like?’ I ask her. ‘Sit down and I’ll get it.’

‘Just a tea, please,’ she says. ‘Two sugars.’

‘You can put your own sugar in,’ I say, pointing to the sachets on the table.

She nods, then looks away. I spot tears coming into her eyes and she sees me notice them, wipes them away with her hand and says, ‘Sorry. It’s just such a long time since I’ve seen you.’

‘Yes,’ I say. I can’t be trusted to speak so I go to the counter and order two teas.

‘Are you well?’ she asks, as I sit back down with the drinks. Her absence, for all those years, settles on the table between us like thick fog.

‘Yes, thank you.’

‘And Angela?’

‘Alive and well and living in Canada,’ I say chirpily. There’s a sharp bit at the edge of the table, where some Formica has peeled off and is grazing my arm, but I don’t move my arm away.

She nods. ‘And your father?’

Hasn’t she got more to say about Angela living in Canada? That’s quite a big deal! ‘Still blind,’ I say. ‘You found that quite hilarious, once upon a time.’

‘I wasn’t well.’

‘No. Angela said she saw you in nineteen ninety. That you were in a right state. She moved to Canada after that. You know, Canada? That big place above America?’

‘I know Angela lives in Canada,’ she says quietly and she smiles. It’s a turned-down smile. Her mouth never used to do that.

‘Oh? How do you know that?’