‘To be fair, how did you think she’d react? The way your father behaved, it was like I had a disease. Like I was dirty. Besides, say I had told you back then, what difference would it have made? You were away at St Snotty’s Academy for Respectable Young Ladies, or whatever it’s called, so you weren’t around much anyway. I asked Conor what I should do, and he advised me to let it rest. He said Mam wouldn’t want people knowing how upset she’d been. And he was right. If she knew I was telling you now, she’d give me a clatter.’

Nina’s thoughts flicked back to Millmount Abbey. Although the Emers had moved on to a fresh target, those early months had stuck to her like tar. She’d never been part of the in-crowd and she’d made no lasting friends. The irony was, her exam results had been little better than average. She would probably have achieved the same grades at the community school in Templemorris. Still, as she liked to say, she’d met a better class of bully. Oh, and she’d learned that no child of hers would ever be sent to boarding school.

While Nina’s mother had welcomed her choice of primary-school teaching, her father had done nothing to hide his disappointment. He’d presumed she would follow him into medicine. Failing that, he would have tolerated pharmacy, dentistry or law, something that would have given her letters after her name and a permanent place in the world of the well-to-do. Teaching four-year-olds to share their toys wasn’t on his list. People as clever as her dad couldn’t understand the struggles of others. It had been impossible to explain that, while she was smart, she wasn’t that smart. If she’d spent every waking hour with her head in a book, she still wouldn’t have secured the points for one of his preferred courses. No matter how often she told herself that what she’d chosen was worthwhile, she couldn’t shrug off the sense of failure. Not quite good enough: that was her.

She walked over and squeezed Tess’s cigarette-free hand. ‘I really am sorry. What my dad … what both my parents did … was wrong, and I should have stood up to them. When I call them this evening, I’ll tell them the truth about my flatmates.’ She gave the bony hand another squeeze.

‘Careful,’ said Tess, ‘or you’ll damage my beautiful nails.’

‘You’re something else,’ said Nina.

‘I hope you remember that when I’m down on my luck and looking for help.’

‘As you mention it—’

‘No,’ said Tess. ‘No nagging. Not today. I want to enjoy myself today.’ She stubbed out her cigarette.