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S everal days passed after Andrew’s visit. He rang to confirm a date for the scan and x-ray, and Simon contacted Sue to organise a trip to the studio and discuss how things were going.

‘She’s not convinced it’s a good idea to show it,’ he told Rose, stabbing at a piece of paper with his pen. ‘I can’t think why. It’s not as if the show wouldn’t make money. She says they’re not sure how to round it off. She says she’s worried about how you will feel.’

Rose, pushed her chair back and went to wash up her breakfast things.

‘Why doesn’t she talk to me then? I don’t want anyone’s hard work to go to waste, especially David’s. It’s unlike a production company not to want to cash in. As long as they don’t show the actual shooting, I’m OK with it.’

‘I’m going down to see them. Find out where they’ve got to with the edit. Do you want to come?’

Rose thought about it. She missed the hive mind of city life, the cell walls of high buildings, the buzz of people.

She looked out of the kitchen window to the distant wilds and wondered how it could make her feel more trapped here than the city did.

Then her focus fell on Rob’s bungalow. She could make him out in the kitchen, a shadow pottering about.

To the right of the front door, from her perspective, the blinds were open in the room which formed part of the studio, since he’d knocked the two spare bedrooms together.

She wondered which would have been the nursery.

Embarrassed to find herself staring into someone else’s house, she turned and leaning against the sink, answered with a sigh.

‘Not this time. I’ve got a band rehearsal later and I need to work out what to do in the garden.’

‘All sounds a bit bucolic to me.’

‘Yeah. Doesn’t it just? I feel...’

Simon rose. ‘Are you worried about the film? ’

‘I’m not sure. Maybe. I sort of want to see it and sort of don’t. I want to see David’s last film and want to see what you were all doing but I’m afraid of seeing it too.’

‘Well I’m going to watch it and I’ll see if we can work out a way you could see it here. Would that be OK? You can choose when you’re ready. Or you could just cancel band practice and come up to do some shopping, or whatever women like doing. We could check out the house.’

‘We can’t “check out the house” Simon, it’s someone else’s home now.

We have agents for that sort of thing. Anyway, I’m not sure who’d find it more weird, the tenants or us.

’ Rose shook her head. ‘I can’t cancel band practice, we’ve got a gig coming up, or rather, they have and I don’t really know my part yet.

I can order some stuff on-line for you to pick up from stores though. ’

‘I won’t have time for anything like that.’

Rose laughed. ‘You don’t want to be seen walking the streets with my shopping you mean.’

‘I don’t do bag-carrying. I have a sister for that sort of thing.’

‘Yeah, don’t you just. Have you checked out the edits I’d done on your book?’

‘Made some comments, maybe you can do the the updates if you get bored of pulling turnips or torturing eardrums.’