I let out a short bark of laughter at that. Naomi hasn’t even met Miranda and she’s got her down to a tee, not that I see anything wrong with a sage stick or mirrored knapsacks. I think of the shrieks from the woods, the scratching in the chimney, the way I was convinced I could feel eyes on me, and my smile fades. Even if Naomi is trying to make things seem normal, I still feel unsettled and on edge. As if there is danger lurking just around the corner, just out of sight. I can smell it, almost taste it on the air but there is nothing substantial for me to grab hold of and confront.

‘I wish my mum was here.’ A wave of longing washes over me, and I wonder how long she’ll leave it before she turns up again.

‘Oh, Al, do you miss her?’ Naomi comes to sit next to me on the sofa, leaving Mina in the armchair still glued to the phone. The baby murmurs in the Moses basket and Naomi tenses, straining to see into the cot. I shake my head, and we wait, the baby eventually settling again.

‘Yes, I do miss her, more than I expected,’ I say, the memory of my mum sitting at the café, coffee in front of her, dancing in front of my eyes. I open my mouth to say that she was here yesterday but close it before the words come out. I haven’t told Rav yet that I saw her, and while he says he doesn’t have a problem with her, I have to admit that life is easier when she isn’t around. And it’s easier for me to deal with her when Rav isn’t around. If she decides to stay longer than planned then of course I’ll tell Rav she’s here, but until then I don’t see any reason for Rav to know – he’ll only insist on inviting her for dinner out of politeness, and I’m not sure I could cope with the strain of the two of them in the same room at the moment.

‘You kind of get used to it, don’t you?’ I say. ‘When you grow up and leave the family home, you get used to not being around them all the time, but at the moment it feels odd not to see her every day. I always thought when I had a child I wouldn’t be able to get rid of her.’ I blink rapidly, picking at the sore skin around my bitten nails, as I think of the way she was so suffocating to me as a child. The way she wouldn’t leave me alone. It all changed, once I left to go travelling and met Rav, almost as if she wanted to punish me for leaving her behind.

‘But I thought you weren’t that close? Growing up, anyway.’