‘Oh they’ve been divorced for years, after you know what, but Mum still lives there.’

Katie had no idea what he was talking about, so she just went for a sympathetic look. ‘I’m really sorry to hear that.’

‘It’s fine, they get along pretty well actually. Dad remarried about five seconds after the divorce, some blonde ex-model. What about your folks? Are they still together?’

What an odd question. ‘Erm, yes,’ she replied.

‘Well, props to them, for being able to get past it all,’ Freddy said.

‘I’m sorry, Freddy, I’m a bit confused, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about,’ Katie said with a nervous laugh, starting to feel unsettled by the odd conversation with this blast from the past.

Freddy frowned at her and then his expression changed. ‘You don’t know,’ he said.

‘Don’t know what?’ Katie was getting exasperated now.

Freddy shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable. ‘Forget I mentioned anything.’

‘Well I can’t now,’ she said. ‘You’ve worried me. What are you talking about?’

Freddy glanced at his phone. ‘Look, I can’t talk now, I’ve got football practice in twenty minutes but give me your number and I’ll call you later. Perhaps we can meet for a coffee?’

Katie nodded reluctantly and read out her number to him.

He typed it into his phone. ‘It’s good to see you, Brennan,’ he said, and then he was gone.

‘What on earth was that all about?’ Freya asked her.

‘I’ve got absolutely no idea.’

‘Why was he asking all that stuff about your parents?’

‘I don’t know.’

Katie was starting to get a bad feeling. She tried to think back to when they lived in London but she remembered so little of her life before Cambridge. They had moved there when she was eight and it was the only place she had thought of as home in a very long time. It was only now, after seeing Freddy again, that she remembered long forgotten memories of life in London, of playing with the neighbours’ kids.

They had a treehouse and a really cool den with a big TV and loads of toys, she thought. Yes, it was starting to come back to her now! There were some older siblings too, a boy and a girl. Was there a gate? A gate between the gardens? Yes, there was!

They had been such good friends, she remembered now. Her mum had been really close with their mum, whose name she couldn’t recall. Why hadn’t they kept in touch when they moved away? She’d have to call her mum and ask. But Freddy’s words had freaked her out.

Across the table, Freya started talking about her course timetable and Katie nodded in all the right places, but her mind was racing as she tried to think back to the old house in Pemberton Road, clutching at the various straws in her memory to find the one that made Freddy’s words fit. But she’d been so young and the only images she could conjure up were of happy days spent playing, splashing in the paddling pool, scooting to school together. She certainly didn’t remember anything bad. None of what Freddy had said made any sense to her.