‘Hey, you,’ she said, trying to look as calm and happy as she could. ‘How are you? How’s Grandma?’

‘Yeah, she’s good. We’re good.’

‘Okay. Good. You having fun down there?’

‘Not really. You know what it’s like.’

Caroline let out a small laugh. ‘Yeah, I do. Is this you telling me you’ve become a bona fide country bumpkin now, then?’

‘Something like that, yeah. As long as I get a tractor out of it.’

‘I’ll see what we can do.’

Caroline saw Mark enter the room behind Josh, and in that moment she realised her son had called her on his own impulse, and not because he’d been told to.

‘Hey,’ Mark said, looking at the screen.

‘Hi. You okay?’

‘Yeah, no real change. We went out into town for a bit earlier, but I think the boys’d had enough. Mum’s doing dinner.’

‘At this time?’

‘Was meant to be ready for five. You know what she’s like. I told the boys to expect it around half eight.’

Caroline laughed again. Seeing Mark and Josh’s faces had been a tonic for her. ‘Where’s Archie?’

‘He’s “helping” Mum,’ Mark said, complete with air quotes.

‘Ah. Half eight might’ve been optimistic then.’

Mark flicked his eyebrows up knowingly. ‘We’ve shared a pack of Jaffa Cakes. We’ll last. How are you doing? Getting some rest?’

‘Sort of. I’m alright. I’m good.’

Mark nodded slowly. ‘Good. I’m glad to hear it. Josh, go downstairs and see if you can speed things up with dinner, will you? I’m starting to get hungry here.’ Josh did as he was told — not without the slight grunt of a boy fast becoming a teenager — and Caroline watched as he walked through the bedroom door and onto the landing. ‘And really?’ Mark asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘How are you really?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘You don’t look it.’

‘Oh wow. Thanks.’

‘Listen, we’ll come back Monday night, okay? It gives you a couple of days to sort your head out. But please, look after yourself, yeah? Have some long baths. Candles. Nice music. Get takeaways. Indulge. You probably need it.’

The last thing she needed was private indulgence, but she was in no mood to argue with him. ‘Yeah. I’ll do my best.’

‘Speak tomorrow, yeah?’

‘Yeah.’

Caroline disconnected the call and put the phone down on the floor. Before she could organise her thoughts, there was a knock at the door.

She stood up and walked through into the hallway. She could tell from the blurred figure on the other side of the glass it was Dexter. She was sorely tempted to walk away and pretend she hadn’t heard him knocking, but there was no way he was going to fall for that.

‘What do you want, Dex?’ she said, opening the door.

‘Can I come in?’

‘No.’