He held her gaze for a moment, as if still expecting a change of heart. ‘Well, okay. The edited version, then – and nothing to do with my aunt, who came here decades ago. No, the move to the UK was for a girl. As you do.’ He threw her a sheepish smile. ‘A fellow actor.’ He picked at the label on his beer bottle, his expression clouding. ‘Izzie Bernard? She was in that biggie, Mars. It won all sorts of awards, here and across the pond.’

‘I think I’ve heard of the film, but not her. Mind you, I have been somewhat off-grid for the last couple of years, getting divorced and moving to London, among other things…’ Esther stopped, not wanting to get into any nitty-gritty confessions.

‘Oh dear. Right. You have my sympathies. I mean, I know how shit that stuff is.’ He picked harder at the label, getting nowhere with his big fingers and short nails. ‘Izzie is with Gustav Lindquist now. The director?’ He shook his head in bemusement when Esther again looked blank. ‘They met on her last film. One of the hazards of the job. On set, it can get very… intense. Great when it goes your way though.’ He laughed dryly and flopped back in the chair, holding the beer bottle against his chest. ‘On the plus side, we’ve got Lola – who’s five.’

His entire face had melted, and the dark-brown eyes were flooded with pride and love. Esther found she had to look away. At least Lily and Dylan had got most of their growing up done by the time she and Lucas split. ‘I have two children, nearly twenty-three and eighteen, so pretty much grown-up now – not that you worry less.’ She pulled a face. ‘Lily is doing a postgrad, and Dylan has recently seen fit to take himself off and explore the world in preference to re-sitting his A levels. Which of course has driven my stress levels off the scale. Parenting never ends, you know, it just, sort of… alters.’