Edie took another slug of red before putting down her glass. ‘Fine. Why?’

‘You’re not doing much carving,’ Gilly said, attention still on her block. Edie found herself irritated and wasn’t sure if it was with her student or with herself.

‘You were late today.’

At this Gilly looked up. ‘Rachel needed me a bit longer. She said that Ron had turned up at the gatehouse while she was going through Cullen’s stuff earlier and he was upset. She didn’t want to leave him.’

‘You could have called.’

‘I didn’t want to use the phone without permission. And I don’t know your number.’

Edie wondered whether ‘sorry’ was any part of Gilly’s vocabulary, while a voice at the back of her mind acknowledged to herself that she hadn’t cared that much, really. It wasn’t as if she’d been doing anything else and her hours of teaching Gilly had become far more flexible since the girl had been working at the lighthouse. She hadn’t mentioned needing to call ahead before, and she hadn’t brought up Gilly’s tardiness when she’d arrived at the print room door half buried in Ezra’s coat, either.

‘In future, ask Rachel if you can call me,’ Edie said, aware that her tone was curt. ‘She has my number.’

Gilly had gone back to her work but at this she stopped. For a second her pencil hovered in mid-air, but then she laid it down beside the block.

‘Okay,’ she said, getting up from her stool. ‘I’m going to go.’

‘You haven’t finished transferring the image.’

Gilly gathered up her things from the workbench and crossed to the paper cabinet. Edie had emptied one of the smaller drawers for Gilly to use. She hadn’t once needed to tell the girl to clear away after herself following their sessions. Gilly said nothing until she had put her work carefully into the drawer and then slid it shut.

‘I think you’re tired,’ she said. ‘And I don’t think you want me here today, so I’m going.’

She pulled on Ezra’s coat and went to the door. Edie stayed where she was at the workbench as the girl opened it. Outside the sun had set and the garden was dark.

‘You’re coming tomorrow? You need to finish that block.’

Gilly turned to look at her. ‘Are you going to be less of a grumpy, judgemental old crone?’

‘Are you going to be less of a lippy, ungrateful brat?’

A flicker of a smile danced across Gilly’s face. ‘Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.’

‘Don’t be late!’ Edie called after her as she shut the door, because the last word deserved to be hers. There was no answer and Gilly’s quiet footsteps receded, swallowed by the night.

Edie stayed where she was for a minute. She contemplated trying the block again, but decided against it. Instead, she finished the wine in her glass and got up from the table, leaving her own workspace just as it was because it was her studio so she could do what she liked, dammit. She picked up the glass and the half-empty bottle and headed for her small living room, where the wood burner and another early episode of ER waited for her. God bless DVD box sets and their store of increasingly dated comfort viewing.