They had opened the windows, Maude taking particular care not to dislodge her collection of pebbles, but the room was still stuffy and there was something else too. It took Kym a moment to place it, it was as if they had just snuffed out a candle and the wick was still smouldering.

‘Don’t you mind it?’ she asked, ‘being a bit – cut off from the rest of the house?’

‘That’s sort of the point,’ said Maude.

‘Do they not get on, your dad and Nell?’

‘I suppose so.’ Maude sat on the bed. ‘But sometimes – I just want to be left alone.’

‘Fair enough.’

‘You could stay over, if you like,’ said Maude.

‘What? Here?’ Kym looked around the room. ‘Wouldn’t they mind? Your mum and dad?’

‘Nell’s not my mum.’

‘Yeah, sorry.’

‘Here.’ On the floor, propped up against the trunk, there was a small mirror, with a couple of snapshots pushed into the frame. Maude pulled one of them free. ‘That’s her, my real mum.’

The woman in the picture was smiling, and she had her arms around a little girl, five or six years old, but still definitely Maude; all chubby arms and frizzy hair.

‘She looks nice,’ said Kym. ‘What happened?’

Maude took the picture and concentrated on sliding it back in place. ‘They split up.’

‘And you stayed with your dad?’

‘Mostly. I mean – I go and stay with her too.’

The other photo was the two of them, her dad and the mum, smiling like neither of them knew what was coming.

‘My dad’s dead,’ said Kym.

Maude turned to look at her, her eyes wide. ‘Oh.’

‘Yeah.’ She didn’t talk about it as a rule, and she never just blurted it out like that – she wasn’t really sure why she’d mentioned it now. Maybe to get Maude on side a bit, maybe so she’d know it wasn’t so unusual not to have both parents around. Maybe because he was on her mind these days, because he felt so – close.

She could see Maude struggling with what to say next, her curiosity battling with her good manners.

‘He died before I was born,’ said Kym. ‘It’s just been my mum and me ever since I can remember.’ Probably best, she decided, to leave it at that for now.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Maude.

‘Yeah. Me too.’

‘They took me out of school early,’ said Maude, abruptly. ‘We’re supposed to say it’s because we’re on holiday. But actually, it’s the other way around, we’re on holiday because I’m not in school.’

‘Oh.’ This was unexpected. ‘Why’s that, then?’