“How are your mum and dad?” he asked her, trying to refocus his attention on his dinner companion and the banana fritter he’d ordered for dessert.
“Oh, you know,” she answered inattentively. “Same as ever, I suppose. It’s good to get out of the house.” She curled her spoon through the lake of cream that was soaking her plate around the raspberry and dark chocolate sponge she was eating.
In fact, Adam didn’t know. He was as much in the dark about Clarissa’s home life as he had been on the day they’d met. He’d been half-minded to ask her about what he’d seen on the night of one of the campaign group meetings, when he’d happened upon the pages of the petition she’d collected, but there hadn’t been an opening in the conversation, and now hardly seemed the right time. His mind was largely els
