‘No, thank you.’ She didn’t want to micromanage Lawrence.

‘The other issue is Celine. I’m sorry, Olivia, but my PA can’t spare any more time with her.’

‘Are you being polite again, Lawrence?’

‘I can tell you exactly what she said?’

‘Please do.’

She was taken by surprise when he mimicked his assistant Hilary’s Scottish accent perfectly. ‘“That hag up there has pushed my buttons too many times. Either you stop sending me up to her, Lawrence, or I hand in my resignation now.”’

Olivia sighed. ‘Please give Hilary my apologies. She was always a stopgap. I did try a couple of other temp agencies but they were mysteriously unable to send anyone.’ It seemed her last temp, Susan, had been true to her word. She stood up, signalling the meeting was at an end. ‘I’ll try to think of a solution about Celine. One that doesn’t involve rat poison. For now, I’m off to the airport.’

He stood too. ‘The Iris suite is ready. Fresh flowers, fruit basket. You said no to the champagne?’

‘Thanks, Lawrence. Eliza’s a nervous flyer, so I’m not sure what state she’ll be in when I collect her. I’ll introduce you as soon as I can.’

‘I look forward to meeting her,’ he said.

*

Thirty minutes later, Olivia was at the airport. Eliza’s flight was now minutes from landing. She could feel emails arriving via her phone, but she ignored them. This was Eliza Time. Even so, thoughts about Alex, Rory and Celine kept darting into her mind. Small annoying thoughts, like mosquitos.

Both boys – men – were now in their early thirties but still keeping her awake at night worrying. If it wasn’t Alex’s thieving or arrogance, it was Rory’s dreaminess and lack of direction. As for Celine – or Bloody Celine, as Maxie dubbed her, when Olivia rang her, needing to unload . . .

‘Just kick her out,’ Maxie said. ‘Tell her you need the room for your beloved Australian goddaughter.’

‘I can’t. At least this way she’s only keeping the family awake. It would take a week to shift her anyway. You should see the state of her suite. The cleaning staff have complained to Lawrence that there’s so much paper everywhere they can’t clean properly. She still abuses them.’

As she’d said to Maxie, if this was simply business, she would deal with it all quickly, efficiently. If any other staff member had been caught on CCTV stealing valuable hotel property, she’d have reported them to the police. If Celine was any other guest, they’d have politely asked her to leave. If she refused, they’d have firmly asked her. Olivia was having to make so many allowances because they were both family. Even though, as an insistent inner voice kept reminding her, they weren’t even her family.

Back came that memory of a teenage Alex shouting at her, during her first days in Scotland. ‘You’re not my mother. You’ll never be my mother. So don’t you ever even think about talking to me as if you are my mother.’