After a moment, Nan opens her mouth obediently. She’ll do anything for a few minutes back with Stella. How many people wouldn’t give anything for that time again? Chloe could do something, she could add colour to Nan’s memory.

‘Stella adored you, followed you everywhere,’ Chloe tells her. She waits for her eyes to light up.

Nan laughs. Chloe feels calm return to her. She wipes a little gravy from Nan’s chin with a tissue.

‘She did, didn’t she? I used to call her my little shadow, do you remember that?’

‘I do,’ Chloe says, smiling.

She goes to give Nan more, but she shakes her head.

‘You’ve done really well, almost all of that.’ She shows her the near-empty plate. ‘You must be getting better.’

Chloe goes to stand up and Nan grabs her arm, softly, but urgently.

‘You’ve been ever so good to me, Chloe, not just today, but . . . before I came here, I mean.’

‘Don’t be silly, Nan.’

‘I mean it. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

‘Well, it’s just us now, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Nan says. ‘I suppose it is . . .’

Chloe doesn’t know why this feels like goodbye. She thinks of that weekend bag on her bed. She remembers the words of the matron, reminding her that she’s got to take this opportunity, that she can’t put her life on hold. But Nan is her life. She turns away from her. She knows what she needs to do.

‘Chloe?’

‘Yes, Nan.’

‘Did you ever find that little girl?’

She stops for a second, those incisive moments that cut through the fog still catching her by surprise.

‘I’m not sure.’

‘I’ve been thinking of those poor parents and, well, I know what it’s like to lose a child. You will help them, won’t you?’ She reaches for Chloe’s hand, and she stares at her, for a second, straight in the eye.

‘I’ll do everything I can, Nan.’

‘Good,’ she says, as Chloe removes one of the pillows propped behind her and helps her settle back down under the covers. ‘Good.’

She’s asleep again a few moments later, exhausted from the exertion of eating, but stronger somehow. Chloe lets her sleep, dropping a kiss on her forehead as she leaves.

‘Bye, Nan,’ she whispers. ‘I promise I’ll come and tell you when I’ve brought Angie home.’

As she leaves Park House, she’s already dialling Maureen’s number.

TWENTY-TWO

The kitchen table is set for three. Chloe hesitates before pulling out a chair. Instead she hovers, waiting for Patrick to take his place. He chooses the seat nearest the doorway into the hall. Maureen transfers a steaming casserole dish from the oven to the worktop.

‘Sit yourself down, Chloe,’ Maureen says, indicating which chair to pull out.