Her phone rang for the ninth time in a row. Sofia. She answered it reluctantly. “Yes?”

All she could hear was slightly damp breathing down the line. Then, finally: “. . . Auntie Carmen?”

“Phoebe? Is that you?”

“Mummy lent me phone.”

Carmen was annoyed at Sofia’s obvious emotional manipulation. On the other hand, she couldn’t deny its efficacy. “Uh-huh.”

“Are you coming home soon? I want you to say good night to me. And tell me a story. Not the one about the bear and the snake, though. That one is rubbish.”

“It is rubbish,” said Carmen. “It sucks.”

“It sucks.”

“Okay, don’t say that too loud.”

She sighed.

“Yes, I will be home.”

“It’s very hard to storm out properly when there are children,” she said, hanging up the phone.

Ramsay smiled. “It’s very hard to do anything when there are children,” he said. “You sound like a good aunt, though.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Carmen, getting up. “Well, at least there’s that.”

SHE DIDN’T SPEAK to Sofia when she got in, just went and saw the children in their rooms. Pippa was looking disapproving.

“You made Mummy sad,” she said.

Carmen screwed up her face. “I know,” she said. “Sometimes sisters fall out.”

Pippa nodded sadly. “You got cross like Phoebe does.”

Carmen bit her lip. “Well, I’m sure we’ll get over it.”

“You should probably say sorry,” said Pippa.

“Everyone should,” said Carmen, beating a hasty retreat.

She popped in to see Phoebe.

“Pippa says I should say sorry,” she whispered.

“I never say sorry,” came the figure under the blankets. Carmen smiled for the first time that evening. Then: “I’m glad you came back. Are you going to stay with us forever?”

Carmen blinked, kissed her, but could not answer.

SOFIA WAS WAITING in the hallway, feeling awful, but Carmen kept her distance, unhappily.

“I finish at Mr. McCredie’s after Christmas,” she said shortly. “Mum says they’re opening up a new bunch of cafés and stuff in the old buildings. Farmers’ markets, that kind of thing. I’ll go try my luck there.”

Sofia nodded numbly. “I . . . Okay,” she said. “But you know I didn’t mean it.”

“No, I know you did,” said Carmen. “And that’s far, far worse.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Carmen threw herself into work the next day, both with the huge line of customers and getting things ready for the party. Mr. McCredie did not appear until lunchtime, but proved rather good at getting glasses and wine out and inviting customers willy-nilly. Carmen was surprised at him.

“What are you doing?” he said when he saw her still wrapping for people in the middle of the day. “I thought you took that thing called a ‘lunch break’ these days.”

“We’re busy!” said Carmen. “I have a lot on!”

“Well, I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with me.”

“Where?”