‘Actually, Matteo’s in New York.’ Lily rammed some spaghetti into a big saucepan and carried on chivvying the meat in the pan, turning it and chopping at it. ‘A last-minute grand gathering of the clan. They were going to wait till Thanksgiving, but a bunch of rellies – there are so many of them – couldn’t make it.’

‘Oh, well, that’s nice,’ Esther said cautiously. ‘So, he’ll be seeing his dad.’

‘Amongst all the others. Hey, do you want a drink? We’ve got some white, I think.’

‘Juice, water – anything is fine. Whatever you’re having… but, darling, I expect you wish you were in New York too, don’t you?’

Lily snorted. ‘No way. I could have gone, but I’ve got a load of work, and it’s nice for Matt to do that stuff alone.’ She had opened the fridge door and was staring inside, gripping the handle, with white knuckles.

Esther hesitated, torn between pushing too hard and not asking enough, understanding only too well the reluctance to spill one’s problems on demand. Her daughter’s back was rigid, and Esther’s conviction that there was a serious problem with Matteo deepened. All the auditions with girls, some of them from Matteo’s and Lily’s school days. Maybe something had happened. Lily and Matteo had been together for so long after all; a point of make-or-break was bound to be reached. ‘I don’t mean to pry, and I know I’ve asked before, but are you sure everything really is okay between you two? I would love you to feel you can tell me anything, Lily darling.’

‘We’re totally okay. I mean, he drives me nuts, but yeah… totally.’ She snatched a half-empty bottle of white wine out of the fridge and kicked the door shut with the back of her foot. ‘It’s nothing special, sorry.’ Lily landed the bottle on the table with a thump, and swung back to the hob, her slim shoulders performing a steep rise and fall in what looked like a concerted effort to summon calm.

For a few moments neither of them said anything and the silence felt oddly awkward.

‘By the way, Mum. I’ve been wanting to ask.’ Lily had taken the chopping board and begun beating the mushrooms into the meat – to a pulp, by the look of it – between adding generous squirts of ketchup. ‘About Dad and Grandad. I mean, Matteo’s family have been shitty to each other, but somehow, they still muddle along. But Dad not seeing him, it’s because of Granny, right?’

‘Yes, that certainly brought things to a head,’ Esther said, her caution intensifying. She had never known Lily like this, so spiky, so angry.

‘But how bad was Grandad, anyway?’ Lily blurted, spinning round and folding her arms, sticking her chin out in her determined way. ‘Was there physical abuse – to Granny? Or Dad?’