Grace relaxed a little. Her father had bought the 1965 Mini for her and Charlotte to learn to drive in and the pair of them had careered around the estate in it until they passed their tests, at which point it had become theirs, giving them some much sought-after independence from the estate. It was a mossy green with a cream roof and sported plenty of dents and scratches, which held testament to her own lack of skill behind the wheel.

‘I learned to drive in that car,’ she said with a smile. ‘And,’ she added, ‘I lost my favourite lipstick under the driver’s seat and it never, ever reappeared. I think it must still be rattling around its innards somewhere.’

Charles appeared too excited about his plan to worry about her lost lipstick.

‘There’s a meeting over in Cheshire next weekend,’ he said, bouncing up and down on his toes like a little boy as he spoke. ‘I thought I might go over there and check it out.’

Grace weighed up the pros and cons of the plan. It was important that Charles had interests outside work. Everyone said so. She didn’t feel the need for a hobby herself – she had Hector, after all, and that was more than enough to occupy her for now. It would mean Charles being away for a whole day, though; maybe a night, too. Still, knowing Charles, this would be a hare-brained scheme like so many others. He would see what it was all about and then decide that it wasn’t for him and move on to the next thing. And it wasn’t as if he’d asked to use one of the expensive cars or anything that could go particularly quickly. How much danger could there be in racing Minis around a track?

‘That sounds like a great idea,’ she said. ‘Maybe Hector and I could come too, take a picnic and make a day of it.’

Grace saw straight away that this wasn’t at all what Charles had in mind.

‘Well, you can if you’d like,’ he said with a shrug. ‘But I’m not sure how much fun it would be for you. I’ll be off chatting to the other drivers and . . .’

Grace shook her head at him. ‘I get it,’ she said gently. ‘It’s a boy thing. It’d probably be a bit loud for Hector anyway. We’ll stay here and you can tell us all about it when you get back.’

Charles was beaming like a schoolboy who’d just been given permission for a midnight feast.

‘But,’ said Grace, arranging her features into a stern expression. ‘You must promise me one thing.’

Charles’s smile slipped and he suddenly looked worried. ‘What?’ he asked nervously.