Grace leant forward to pick up the doll, whose dress had become caught around her waist, exposing her unlikely figure to all and sundry. Grace smoothed the dress back down, restoring the doll’s modesty. Leah nodded and then turned her attention back to the television, but Grace noticed that she kept stealing a look at her from the corner of her eye.

Melissa reappeared with a mug of tea in each hand and a packet of digestive biscuits under her arm.

‘I’ve only got plain ones,’ she said as she put the biscuits on the coffee table and passed one of the mugs to Grace. ‘Hope that’s all right.’

‘Thank you,’ said Grace and took a sip of the tea, which was hot and strong. ‘Leah and I have just been getting acquainted. I have a daughter about her age, a little older maybe. My little girl is five.’

‘Leah’s nearly six,’ said Melissa, opening the packet of biscuits and helping herself to a couple without offering one to Grace first.

Grace was surprised. Surely this would mean that Leah should have been at school?

‘Day off school today, then?’ she asked. ‘Are you poorly, Leah?’

The child didn’t look unwell, but Grace supposed she might be at the tail end of some childhood virus or other.

‘No. She’s right as rain. I just fancied having her at home with me today,’ replied Melissa. ‘It gets lonely on my own when Ray’s away. Leah’s great company for me, aren’t you, princess?’

Melissa devoured the first biscuit in three bites, flicking the crumbs away on to the carpet. Leah’s eyes didn’t stray from the television screen, but something about the way she held her head told Grace that she was totally aware of what was going on behind her.

Grace didn’t know quite what to say. Keeping a child away from school on a whim was not something that she had ever come across before. Wasn’t it illegal? It certainly wasn’t in the best interests of the child. In fact, Melissa had said that it was more about her own welfare than that of her daughter. But she must not judge. Other people did things differently, and that was their prerogative.

‘So,’ said Melissa, starting on the second biscuit. ‘Tell me about this husband of yours. What did you say he was called?’

‘Charles,’ replied Grace.

‘And he’s my Ray’s stepbrother, you say?’

‘Half-brother,’ Grace clarified. ‘They have the same father, or had. He passed away a few years ago.’