“What do you mean?” It was one thing for her to consider pulling out of the interview, but quite another if he thought she wasn’t worth talking to. “Yeah, well. It’s not easy pretending to be someone else.” Ellie stared at the frowning boy in front of her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said at last. “Do you mean you’re trying to behave like your father but don’t really want to? Actually, I was going to ask if you felt very different from your dad.” Now it was his turn to stare at her. “No!” he said, taking a handful of the crisps she was holding and throwing himself back into his chair. “No way!” Ellie sat down and waited until he’d chomped the crisps and brushed the worst of the crumbs from his T-shirt. “Well what do you mean?” Joe Steel was having difficulty meeting Ellie’s eyes. “I feel kinda bad.” “You don’t need to feel bad,”
