Grace had no real plan when she pulled the car into the road in Whitley Bay for the fourth time. She had an aim, though. She was determined to make what must be an intensely difficult time for Leah run a little more smoothly.

She had to assume that Leah knew nothing of the quagmire that her parents had dug themselves into, and it was vitally important that Grace didn’t do anything to undermine her understanding of her parents’ relationship. She most definitely wasn’t intending to make a bad situation any worse.

Would Leah remember her? Grace wondered. It seemed unlikely. They had met only once when Leah was barely old enough to go to school. This meant, Grace reasoned, that she could talk to Leah without any fear of the girl recognising her for who she was. Even if Melissa had told her daughter what Charles had done, there was no way she could connect Grace to it all.

None of this helped her make an actual plan, though. Grace sat in her car outside number 9 and pondered. She should have come up with something before setting off. Just loitering here was of no use to anyone.

Then the front door to number 5 opened and a young woman of around the same age as Clio stepped out. She was wearing black leggings and fake Ugg boots with a huge baggy sweatshirt that seemed to engulf her. Even though the temperature was grazing freezing and a smart wind was whipping through the telegraph wires overhead, she wasn’t wearing a coat.

This had to be Leah. Grace tried to see the self-contained little girl that she had met in the young woman she saw before her. That was almost impossible, but easier to spot was the resemblance to her father. The rangy walk, the tilt of the head, the slightly out-splayed feet. This was Charles’s daughter, Grace was sure.

But what should she do? Accosting Leah in the street was hardly appropriate and anyway, how would she start up any meaningful conversation? ‘Well, hello there. You don’t know me but I’m married to your father.’ Obviously that wasn’t an option, but then, before she’d had time to think through her options, Grace was opening the car and stepping out on to the pavement.

The wind coming in off the sea was bitter, and Grace pulled her cashmere coat a little closer to her as she set off down the street after Leah.