Maria was laughing again. She brushed the tears away and shook her head.

‘I just felt so guilty,’ said Ayesha. ‘Where are you going, by the way? Are you camping somewhere?’

‘Camping?’

She looked down at the rucksack.

‘No,’ she said. ‘I have a hotel. But everything is here, for walking. I don’t have a suitcase.’

‘It’s more practical. Easier to carry.’

‘Where are you going? You told me – your parents.’

‘I’m going to see them,’ said Ayesha. ‘I’m returning this thing… this guitar, amongst… you know, other things. I was going to see them anyway—’

‘You play guitar?’

‘I don’t.’

‘My husband plays. I sing, he plays guitar.’

‘This belonged to my brother, but we’ve decided to give it to a friend. Is your husband meeting you, or…?’

‘Meeting me where?’

‘For the walking holiday. In the hotel.’

‘No.’

She paused.

‘He is working. United Arab Emirates.’

‘And you’re from the Philippines? I’ve never been there.’

‘You must come. Are you Indian? Or… Where were you born?’

‘My parents are Indian. I was born in Bury.’

‘Bury?’

‘Near here. Not far.’

‘I worked one year in India.’

‘Whereabouts was that?’

‘Mumbai.’

‘Right.’

‘So noisy. Like Manila.’

They sat in silence, and Maria blew across the surface of her tea and added sugar. Ayesha didn’t need to look at her phone to know the time, for there was a clock on the wall opposite, and a series of information boards. They were sitting, it seemed, on the site of a First World War canteen, where thousands of hungry, thirsty soldiers had taken refreshment on their way to the front. There were signs announcing this, and the writing was so big you had to read it: In 1917, every single day, three thousand two hundred and fifty men were served by volunteers.

She looked at Maria, and they smiled at each other.

Conversation had come to a natural end, it seemed, but the meeting was going to be prolonged by the same hot drinks the soldiers must have sipped, here in this very spot. Not that the delay mattered, for the buses to her parents’ house were regular and she’d called to tell them she had to meet someone first. In any case, she didn’t want to go home. She wanted to see them, of course – but seeing them was always so hard.