‘Sorry, sorry. Yes, you’re right, I should try and start doing it myself. Okay, hop into the right lane so you’re ready to turn.’

Callie indicated, checked her side mirror, checked her blind spot and then glided smoothly across. Mimi found herself wondering if Callie may actually be a better driver than her already. She was definitely better than Mimi was at her age. She’d failed her test four times. And whenever she changed lanes, she would always panic that another car was going to appear out of nowhere so she’d wrench the steering wheel and jerk the car across, usually swerving into oncoming traffic and then having to immediately wrench the wheel back the other way to straighten up. In the worst of her four failed tests, the instructor’s head had banged against the passenger window on one of the jerky lane changes. ‘Let’s call it a day, shall we?’ she’d suggested in a slightly strained voice.

They turned off the Pacific Highway and approached the first of the six roundabouts stretched out ahead of them.

‘Okay, slow up a little,’ said Mimi, ‘so you can make sure your right side is clear as you enter the roundabout.’

‘It’s fine, I can already see it’s clear.’

Mimi found herself pressing her foot against an imaginary brake on the floor as they sailed through the roundabout. Admittedly, it was clear and Callie was still keeping the car smooth and within the lane, while simultaneously remembering to flick on the indicator as they exited. But Mimi still thought they could have slowed down a bit more.

‘You know I’m the one who’s meant to be instructing you, right?’

‘Yeah, but I know what I’m doing. Like I said, I just need to make sure I’ve clocked up the right number of hours.’

She approached the second roundabout at the same speed and flew through it yet again.

‘Callie, you can still take my advice. I know you’ve got really good at looking ahead and being aware of what cars are around. But there are people around here who sometimes fly out of the side streets. If you’re going a little slower, then you can be ready if someone does that to you.’

‘Seriously, I’m fine, I know what I’m doing.’

Mimi threw up her hands in frustration. ‘So, what am I here for then? Just to be a fully licensed body in the car?’

‘Exactly!’ Callie seemed to have missed the sarcasm in her mother’s voice.

They were heading for the third roundabout and Mimi could see that Callie’s smooth run thus far was giving her a false sense of overconfidence. This time they really were going a little too fast.

‘Callie,’ she said, her voice tightening, ‘slow down, please. I’m serious. You’re going to take this bend too fast.’

‘I’m not!’

‘You are. Slow down.’