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Jacob looked a little uncomfortable. ‘I hope so.’

Charlotte was ready to argue her point a little more, then remembered something Kelly had told her once, about how not everyone shared the same total conviction that she did. Instead, she said, ‘Is there anything in particular that you had planned for this evening?’

‘Well, I just picked up a few old chess sets,’ Jacob said. ‘I thought it might be fun to teach the children to play. It might be a little … um … geeky for you, but—’

‘Oh, I love chess,’ Charlotte said. ‘I used to play with Grandma sometimes. She always beat me. I haven’t played in years, though. Shall we have a quick practice game while we finish our coffee?’

‘A … practice game?’ He shrugged. ‘Sure, why not?’

He went out to fetch a set. Charlotte looked around the kitchen, thinking that it perhaps needed a paint job, or a vase of flowers, or some new drapes over the window. The units were new enough, although they were functional rather than fashionable, but it really only needed a personal touch to make it more pleasant. A little like the rest of the place. She could tell the staff were overworked simply by how untidy the rooms were, how sparse the noticeboards, and that the children were watching television rather than engaging in some craft activity together. And another travesty that she had noticed which needed to be put right as soon as possible was that there were no Christmas decorations up yet. While she understood that most people preferred to wait until the tenth or eleventh of December, Charlotte was of the view that December was synonymous with Christmas, and therefore it was fine to begin decorating on the stroke of midnight on the 30th of November.

The door opened and Jacob reappeared, still looking flustered, but now carrying a chess set. He set it up on the table between them, Charlotte helping to rearrange the pieces.

‘This little horse goes here, doesn’t it?’ she said, trying to remember everything Grandma had taught her. Like riding a bike, really. Once you were in the seat, you were away.

‘You can be white if you like,’ Jacob said.

‘Okay, sure.’

Charlotte pushed a central pawn a couple of spaces. Jacob frowned, then played his queen’s bishop pawn.

‘Ooh, a Sicilian Defence,’ Charlotte said. ‘This should be interesting.’

‘The moves have names?’ Jacob said.

Charlotte grinned. ‘Of course they do.’