‘I can show you plenty more that’s wrong about me if you want me to.’

The taxi driver turned round again to look at us.

‘What shall we argue about?’ I said.

‘I don’t know. How about education?’

‘Great,’ I said.

And we began.

*

Emily sat on a seat in front of mine when we caught the tram north, and we went quiet, shunting past the hundreds of B&Bs, looking west at the Irish Sea rippling around the coast until we were heading inland and past my old school. The tram dropped us off on the edge of the high street in town. Emily trundled her case beside me down the terraced streets, the wind in our faces. The gulls had taken exception to us; they wheeled in tight circles around us until one bird, cackling like a pervert entertainer, came down so slow and low that Emily had to duck and grab my arm.

‘What’s its fucking problem?’ she asked.

‘It can tell we’ve come from London. Or it’s nesting. They’ve always been twats. Don’t worry. We’re just down here.’

The house was just as Mum had left it, as clean and free from dust as it always was. It wasn’t a big place for the town, but big for London – a long, thin terrace with a living room and a dining room and a kitchen at the back with a small garden, three bedrooms above. All cleanly decorated, painted walls covered in prints, the floors wooden except for the thick carpet that was the touch of comfort over style in the room where she watched TV. Her boyfriend Alan came round once a week to dust surfaces and run a Hoover round. I had let him know Emily was staying and arranged to visit him for a coffee on Sunday.

I gave Emily the room I usually slept in, the only bedroom with a desk in it. I made her a cup of green tea with one of the bags – they may have been Amy’s – that I found in the cupboard.

‘It must be strange for you, being here,’ said Emily, looking at me.

‘It’s, er, yeah,’ I said. I had my hands on the wall of the kitchen, as though it might be about to fall in. I took them off and turned around.

‘Shall we go for a walk?’ Emily said. ‘I’d like to see the sea.’

*