‘Well, I’ve got to be honest, I do have an ulterior motive. I just wanted to have a quick word with the both of you, if that’s OK.’

‘Mum,’ said Evie softly, but Carolyn ignored her.

‘I’ve been thinking about the drying ground, you know?’ she went on. ‘And the thing is she can be so unreasonable. Gina.’

‘Can she?’

‘Everyone knows they were communal. The way people just annex them these days, claiming they were gardens, digging them over, fencing them off.’

‘So you’re saying everyone should have access to it?’ Nell said.

‘Well. Not visitors. Obviously. But residents. Locals.’

‘I’m sorry. I don’t quite follow,’ said Chris.

‘I mentioned it, didn’t I?’ said Nell. ‘About the drying ground.’

‘Oh. Yes.’ He looked vaguely out of the window. ‘Maude said something.’

‘If you were able to – well, if you wouldn’t mind us using it?’ Carolyn said. ‘Not every day, of course . . .’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand,’ Nell said. ‘You need to be speaking to Gina, surely. If she says the land is hers—’

‘Oh. Oh no.’ Carolyn looked at Evie, smiling apologetically. ‘No. The thing is, Gina says the drying ground belongs to Elder House.’

‘Oh,’ Chris said. ‘So, it’s ours? Part of our agreement?’

‘Well, that’s her opinion – but she’s wrong, do you see?’

Carolyn went on, ‘Historically, they were always shared spaces.’

‘Look. I’m sorry,’ said Nell, ‘but – I don’t really see what you’d use it for. We’re certainly not going to . . .’ People didn’t need to dry their washing outside anymore, did they? And the prospect of simply sitting out there, sunning yourself, struck her as slightly ridiculous, it was too dark, she thought, too cold. ‘And it’s not ours, we can’t give you permission.’

Silence seeped into the room. Nell wondered if she’d caused offence. She looked at Carolyn, trying to temper her words with a smile. Surely she could see how absurd her request was, how inappropriate. Nell had the feeling there was something wrapped up in Carolyn’s request that she was missing, some-thing she – an outsider after all those years away – couldn’t see. She had the sense she had wandered into a dispute she only half understood.

‘No, I’m sorry,’ Carolyn said finally, ‘you are absolutely right. It’s because you’re local, you see – I sort of forgot that you’re not staying. And of course you don’t want us trooping up here every evening—’

‘It’s not that . . .’ Although, of course, it was.

‘Which we wouldn’t. It’s just – it’s the principle of the thing.’

‘I really don’t think that it’s something we can help you with.’

There was another silence, then Carolyn gave a sad, self-deprecating smile. ‘Oh, good lord, you must think I’m dreadful. But you do understand – I wouldn’t ask if we weren’t old friends.’