Honor thanks her and waits for her to leave before turning to Nevis. ‘How are you, darling?’

Nevis meets her eye then looks away. ‘Did you drive Gerry here?’

Sometimes, when Nevis was small, Honor would empty out the van and stick a mattress in the back of Gerry and they would go out to the countryside and wild camp on the edge of some wood, as far away from people as they could get. Whenever they had a falling-out or Honor got too sad about Zoe, and Nevis was old enough to leave the boat on her own, she would take the keys and clamber inside Gerry, perching among the machine parts and offcuts of marine timber. Nevis had always found things more comforting than people.

‘You want to sit in the van?’

‘Maybe. In a bit.’ She rubs her eyes.

‘You must be exhausted.’ Stretching out her hand so their fingertips just meet. ‘Shall I drive you back to the flat?’

Nevis turns her head and blinks. ‘Why are you wearing pyjamas?’

Honor pulls her coat tightly around herself. ‘I left in a hurry. It’s OK, Nevis, it’s not a problem, I promise. Half the people here are in pyjamas.’

How she wishes she could just hold Nevis in her arms right now, but Nevis will not like it, would not have liked it even when they were on better terms.

‘I’m struggling to understand why Satnam would have done this.’ Nevis’s response to Sondra’s question leads Honor to believe that her daughter knows more than she’s saying. ‘Is Luke still in the picture?’ Satnam’s boyfriend came to the Kingfisher a couple of times last summer, when Satnam was staying with them. For the most part these were happy visits. They cooked spag bol and laughed and Luke and Honor shared a spliff on the towpath. The shadow of Satnam’s parents’ disapproval hung over the young couple but it was evident that they were in love. But Nevis insists that Luke ended the relationship in November. It can all be pretty intense and erratic at that age, she supposes. Not that Honor knows this first-hand because romantic love isn’t something she has allowed herself to feel. Loss will do that to a person. So will dealing with all the busyness of bringing up a kid alone.

‘And how did Satnam feel about that?’

‘Fine. She said it was for the best.’

To Honor, the chances that a young woman who has already faced the disapproval of her parents in order to carry on a relationship with a man she loves feels ‘fine’ about being left seem pretty slim. But Nevis can be quite literal in that way. If Satnam said it was ‘for the best’ then Nevis would have believed her.

‘Maybe they’ll let us see her now. Shall we go and ask?’

Nevis shakes her head.

‘Do you mind if I go and report back?’