To his credit, he doesn’t hesitate. ‘I don’t want to, but I do. You should try and accept it too.’

‘You know I can’t, Tim.’

He nods, understanding. ‘You must do your best, though. It’ll eat you up otherwise. You’ve got so much going for you.’

I smile at that. ‘So my friends keep telling me. Are you happy with what Cora’s doing?’

Because it is mostly Cora. On his own, Tim wouldn’t have the energy.

He sighs. ‘My darling girl. Of course not. I’m extremely fond of you. You know that. But you can’t expect Cora to hand everything to you on a plate.’

‘I would honour Nick’s wish to help you,’ I say. ‘You’d lose nothing.’ Inside I grimace. I’m not at all sure this will be possible. I think Tim knows that too, but he’s kind enough not to point it out.

‘I don’t need much. But Cora, well, she’s used to better. She doesn’t like Leicestershire, to tell you the truth. She wants to be in London again. It’s where most of our friends are. She gets bored.’

‘She could get a dog.’

He laughs. ‘Grace. I wish none of this had happened, with all my heart. I miss my son. But he’s gone, and things are changing. Cora and I are in our sixties, we don’t have opportunities any more. You have years ahead of you. You can pull yourself out of this, start again. And like we said, we’ll set up a trust for Lottie. Nick would have wanted that.’

I look at him. ‘Was that your idea, or Cora’s?’

‘We came up with it together.’

‘Uh huh.’

‘Well, maybe I suggested we do something for her, and Cora thought of that. We adore Lottie. As far as Cora and I are concerned, she is our granddaughter.’

‘I don’t think Cora thinks that way.’

‘Of course she does. What she said … Well, she was only trying to needle you. You have to forgive her.’

‘Why?’ I’m really interested.

‘Because she’s lost so much.’

‘She’s gaining a house. I hate to sound heartless, but won’t her mother leave her anything?’

‘Well, no. The house had to go when she went into care. It wasn’t worth much anyway. Most of it has gone.’

He starts clearing the plates, scraping the food into the recycling and rinsing them, while I polish off a glass of wine.

‘Please try and change her mind,’ I say.

‘I can’t. I’m sorry.’

I hand him my empty glass and leave the room without a word. I’m so angry, I don’t trust myself to speak.

‘Grace,’ Tim says, coming after me. ‘Whatever Cora says, I know how much Nick loved you. No one can take that away from you.’