In the silence, she wished she could take that one, terrible swipe back. Her son hadn’t looked her in the eye since it happened, like she’d jolted his eyes out and they’d skittled away from her forever. Her hand stung with the pain, so the red place on his cheek must still burn.

All she could think to do was to repeat what she’d done a hundred times in the last few minutes: she looked from her son to his father. Daniel only nodded and stood still. Jamie only held his head lower.

She’d had enough of this constant silence.

‘If you don’t tell me what you’ve been up to, Jamie, I don’t know what I’m going to do,’ she said, reaching for her bag and going through the motions of searching for the cigarettes she’d given up years ago.

But it became a search for some higher authority.

‘Actually, I do know what I am going to do,’ she muttered. ‘I am going to send you to that fucking boarding school your father is so keen to pay for.’

Thinking she’d achieved a victory, she turned to Jamie, only to find him smirking at the wall.

‘If you send me there, I’ll just run away.’

Beck laughed, but immediately gulped it back. He’d been true to his word only a day and a half ago.

She had nothing left, so she heaved her bag over her shoulder. ‘You work it out,’ she said to Daniel.

Crossing the foyer, Beck gave a little wave to the helpful concierge, whose attentions were raised by the speed of her escape. Tony and Leanne were long gone, and the restaurant was starting to empty, but there were a few people moving to the lounge bar where the lighting was softer and Beck figured she could order herself a very strong drink and sink into the comfortable folds of one of the large chairs.

The barman indicated she should take a seat, then came to her side just as she shouldered her way into the thick padding at her neck, which seemed to hold her up like no chair ever had before.

‘Scotch and dry,’ she said and flicked him a smile, noticing the swish of the arms and the total lack of interest in her breasts.

Brian Fryer had swished like that. He’d drifted in and out of her mind ever since Doris mentioned the funeral. When he’d been Jamie’s age, Brian had sometimes come to cards with his mother, hanging around in the same way Jaimie had started hanging around Beck, like she was supposed to show him how to grow up.

As the waiter returned, set the glass down precisely, and asked if there was anything else he could do for her, she had to admit there was something about his walk and his manner that was Jamie all over.