Jake and Ethan were at the stage in their teenage lives when they were pushing boundaries, testing themselves and others. Like the whole thing with them calling her Jen now, instead of Mum. She didn’t like that, not one bit, but Alistair had positively encouraged it as a move away from childhood into early adulthood. ‘It’s a measure of maturity,’ he’d told her. ‘It empowers them: when the child moves into adulthood it no longer sees the parents as “parents”, but rather as equals.’ Sometimes she wished her husband could see the children as theirs, as different and special and unique, rather than as just two more patients to be scrutinised and counselled according to the textbooks. Their boys were not long into their teens, but it seemed they were already lifting themselves out of the nest and sniffing the air. It wouldn’t be long until they spread their wings and took flight.

That didn’t bear thinking about.

She stopped pacing.

‘He was this close to the edge,’ she said, holding her thumb and forefinger a millimetre apart. ‘I only just got to him in time . . . he was so close.’

‘I know,’ Alistair said.

‘Then how you can be so relaxed about it, Ali? Have you even been into the woods here yet?’ She pointed in the direction of the vineyard and the woods beyond. ‘There’s a 100-foot drop straight down to the gorge. Anything could have happened when the boys went down there; I just can’t believe Rowan didn’t tell us about it before we arrived. And Jake was standing on the edge as though he had no fear at all.’

Alistair sat back in the armchair, crossing one leg over the other.

‘He has no fear because the teenage brain has an undeveloped appreciation of consequences. He is impulsive and intense – and sometimes spontaneous to the point of being reckless. We know this already about our son.’

‘Well, that’s really helpful,’ she said, her voice loaded with sarcasm. ‘I feel so much better now.’

‘What I mean is, I’m not relaxed, Jen. I’m focused. I’m looking for a solution.’

‘The solution is simple: we ban them from going into the vineyard and the woods.’

‘Ban them? How would we make that work, exactly?’

‘I don’t know, Ali, but we need to do something! I’m worried about him, worried about all of the children. Daniel’s only nine. He’s very impressionable.’

‘Ethan’s got a sensible old head on his young shoulders. He won’t let anything happen. And besides, exploring is a natural part of growing up. Physically, mentally, spiritually. They have to find out who they are and where they fit in the world.’

‘Christ! You’re bloody impossible sometimes. These are our children we’re talking about – here, now, today – not some case study you’re presenting at a conference in six months’ time.’