‘I don’t think so,’ said Oliver. ‘Mind you, I can barely keep up with people moving in and out of the yard.’

‘Visitors,’ said Evie.

‘Sorry,’ said Nell.

‘Oh, not you,’ said Carolyn.

‘How are you finding it? Elder House?’ Oliver asked.

‘It’s – fine,’ said Nell, carefully picking her way through her food. ‘It’s probably too big for us, but things were a bit – last minute.’

‘We don’t visit very often,’ said Maude. ‘Nell doesn’t like it here.’

‘That’s not true.’ Nell put down her knife and fork. ‘You don’t really think that, do you?’ She looked around the table. ‘We just don’t have much reason to visit anymore,’ she said.

‘You didn’t hang on to your family’s house, then?’ asked Oliver, topping up Carolyn’s wine.

‘They don’t let you do that with council houses,’ said Nell. ‘Not if you’re not actually living there.’

‘Your parents should have bought when they had the chance.’

‘That was never really an option.’

‘That’s how we were able to buy back here in the yard.’ Ollie looked across the table at his wife. ‘We were on the West Cliff, then we sold the house Caro’s dad left her – up on Green Lane – and that gave us the boost we needed for this place. When we were first married we—’

‘Are you all right, sweetheart?’ Carolyn interrupted, looking at Maude. Her tone was solicitous.

Maude looked up from her plate, surprised. ‘Yes, thank you.’

‘If you don’t like it, don’t be afraid to say so.’

‘I . . .’ Maude looked to Nell for some support.

‘Maude likes Italian food as a rule, don’t you?’

‘Yes. This is – lovely. Thank you.’ Maude speared a large pink prawn and shoved it into her mouth.

‘What was Mum like at school?’ Evie asked.

‘Very, very well-behaved and studious,’ said Carolyn.

‘Well, she wasn’t called Carolyn,’ said Nell. ‘Carrie. Carrie Hudson.’

Just saying the name gave Nell a better sense of the girl in the photo, a bit shy, not really part of any gang or group.

‘You got there in the end,’ said Carolyn, raising her glass. ‘It’s OK. I do understand there’s no real reason you’d remember me, not the way I remember you, anyway.’

‘Yes. Sorry. But – you’ve changed.’

‘I should hope so. No one has called me Carrie for years. You were one year above me, and one of the cool girls, too.’

‘Oh, I was so not.’