She gives a cynical laugh. ‘We don’t eat together. We don’t sleep together. We don’t do anything together. It’s either him and them or me and them. They’re not stupid. They can still remember when it was the five of us and all the fun and exciting things we used to do.’

Another tear escapes onto her cheek.

‘My eldest was just asking the other day why we don’t go up to London any more,’ she cries. ‘He remembers us going up just after Christmas last year and spending the money his grandma had sent over.’

Anna flinches as a lightning bolt of pain crosses her face, but she quickly pulls herself together.

When she first came to see me a couple of months ago, she wasn’t even able to say Ben’s name, so frightened of the feelings it would evoke. But I’ve spent a long time gently coaxing her into talking about him. Convincing her that the best way to keep his memory alive is to think about him often and talk about him even more. It’s what she’s wanted to do ever since he died last year, but she seemingly hadn’t given herself permission to do it with anyone else; assuming that they too wouldn’t be able to cope with the emotions it would elicit in either themselves or her.

‘Tell me about your trip to London,’ I say gently.

She wipes her cheek. ‘It was that period between Christmas and New Year, and we took the children up to the pantomime. It was the first year all three of them were able to enjoy it; Ben was just two so was able to sit through a performance and I wanted to do it before the others thought it was too babyish.

‘So we stayed overnight in a hotel and went to Hamleys, where they were enraptured by the entertainers on the street outside performing magic tricks and riding unicycles. They had twenty pounds each to spend, which doesn’t buy you very much in that store, but they rushed off in awe, exploring all the floors as if they were in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.’

Suddenly her soft features become pinched as the flashback takes on a new direction.

‘The older two were far too fast for Ben, so I went off with them whilst Nick stayed with Ben. By the time we came back together again, Ben had the sugary remnants of pink cotton candy stuck to his face and a gleaming red toy car clutched in his chubby little hand.’

I smile at the vivid image playing out in my head, but Anna’s face is still set hard.