'I'm back . . . and Gina's here.' For the next few minutes it felt a little awkward in the tiny hallway. Dermot manhandled the pink bags in through the front door, where they seemed to expand and take up every available inch of space. Gina was crammed in behind Dermot, trying to close the door behind her. Dermot's mother was squeezing through in front of him, so desperate to meet Gina that she absolutely couldn't wait until they'd made it into the sitting room. 'Hello . . . hello there.' A woman who looked vaguely like Dermot but with curly red hair took Gina's proffered hand and pressed it between hers. She was chubby, smiley, with Dermot's kind blue eyes, but much shorter than Gina had imagined. Gina, in high-heeled new ankle boots, towered over her. 'Come away in,' Dermot's mum instructed her in that uniquely Scottish way. A not entirely friendly mix, it seemed to Gina, of 'go away' and 'come in'. She was led by the hand into the sitting room, which was minuscule! The ceiling really wasn't very far from her head.
