Amelia and her father, David, greeted each other every day with the same not-so-secret secret exchange: a thumbs up, followed by a wink of the left eye, and then when they were within touching distance, a hug that lifted Amelia’s feet clear off the ground. David was not arrestingly handsome in the way that George was. He was of average height, not skinny but certainly not fashioned from an athletic mould. His dark hair was just beginning to grey, but it flopped across his brow in a pleasing, comfortable fashion, and beneath a pair of tortoiseshell glasses, his eyes were soft and warm, if not striking. He wore jeans and t-shirts, either unconcerned or oblivious to both the other fathers in their city suits, and the mothers who regarded him with territorial friendliness. Usually he had the little boy, Amelia’s brother, strapped into a sling on his chest.

“Mr Beckham, thank you for waiting. Just a very quick chat.”

David leaned over to deliver another kiss to Amelia’s forehead before she ran off to the playground, then he entered the classroom, perching easily on one of the tables and with another kiss, this time to the cheek of his son, let the little boy down from the sling. “So how’s the first week?” he asked Veronica warmly. “You’ve survived I see.”

“Just,” she laughed, distracted by the tenderness of the man’s interaction with his children, and remembering abruptly how Sarah’s parents had smothered Sarah in similar affection, declaring their love every time one of them left the room: “Love you” “Love you”. She recalled how alien that had felt to her back then, and how she’d wondered if it was a Jewish thing, and thought about converting. She shook herself. “Actually, with the help of your daughter.”

“Oh?”

David looked to her expectantly, but instead of offering an explanation, suddenly, with ridiculous belatedness, it dawned on Veronica that this was a totally unnecessary conversation. She had already held an extra Carpet Time with the children to talk about inclusion. The boy at the centre of the incident seemed unscathed. And obviously, it was his parents, if anybody’s, that she should have spoken with. Why had she wanted this meeting with David?

David smiled patiently.

“So, actually it’s not urgent,” she laughed quickly. “Only I wanted to let you know that during lunch break today, Amelia stood up for another child who was being excluded. Amelia came to tell me about it, we sorted it out together, and what was so striking is that she really showed such maturity and empathy.”

“Oh. Good. Well, that’s nice to hear.” David waited for a moment.

She should speak. What had she imagined she would say? Awkwardness spilled into the silence. David looked back to her.

“Was there… Sorry… is there something you’d like me to reinforce with Amelia at home?”