"We will," Zoe chimed, grateful to Liz for dragging Emma way because Emma kept giving her suggestive looks. "We have lots of study to do so we need some privacy," she said, but finished it off with a look at her mothers that said but nothing like that is going on don't even look at me.

"They seem really nice," Cai said, walking with Zoe up the stairs, which were maybe four times wider than his stairs at home. He kept hold of the railing so he could stretch his neck upwards and check out the ceiling, and the view from the top of the stairs.

"They're good people," Zoe said. She felt like she'd been saying that a bit recently, but compared to other parents she'd met this year, they were good people.