I smile, wondering what on earth Dad has told her about us.
When dinner is ready, I find I have to search the house for Eva before we eat. I find her on her phone upstairs, completely oblivious to the time.
I can't quite put my finger on the odd feeling I get around Penny. The only thing I can identify is that when she smiles, her eyes remain neutral, unaffected. Other than that, she seems perfectly pleasant. She could make her jokes a little more child-friendly for Eva's sake, however.
As she fetches another bottle of wine, Penny explains that she rearranged the kitchen in the order she has everything at home. 'Tony had everything all over the place. Utensils in separate drawers, cutting knives in the back of the cupboard. Didn't you, Tony?'
'That's the way Mum always kept it,' I explain.
I realise now why sharp knives are now freely available in a cutting block behind Dad. He had always been so strict about that when April and I were children.
Penny shrugs.
Eva pipes up. 'That's pretty much where we keep everything at home. Mum says it's safer.'
'Ah, like father, like daughter. It's organised chaos then.'
Penny struggles with the corkscrew, turning it around the other way and pulling a face. 'Temperamental this thing is, Tony. You need a new one.'
Dad nods. 'I'll have to pick one up at the weekend. Here, let me.' He takes the bottle and manages to open it on the first try.
'I loosened it up for you,' Penny says, slapping my father on the shoulder as she throws back her head to laugh.
She moves on to serve her dessert, removing the plastic packaging and cuts into slices. I'm automatically given a much larger segment than I'm used to. Dad's thick pizza dough sits heavily in my stomach already. I am keen to be polite, as this seems to be Penny's evening as much as Dad's and don't leave any, but I am aware of how much the rich meal will set me back on the scales.
'So, Hannah,' Penny says in between mouthfuls of cheesecake. 'I hear you are jetting off to Egypt soon. I'm so jealous! I adore the sun, I do. Not sure if I can deal with all that sand though.'
I look up, surprised. I had been dreaming of travelling to Egypt for years, but I don't remember mentioning any such thing to anyone. 'No,' I say. 'I'm not sure where you would get that idea. We aren't taking a holiday abroad this year.'
Penny raises her painted eyebrows. 'Oh, my mistake.'
She falls silent for the first time all evening.
With Penny chipping into every conversation thread I start during dinner, I haven't been able to speak much to my father. He might as well be in another room, rather than simply across the table. Now should be a good opportunity to do so, but there is an awkward edge to the silence. I get the impression that I have offended Penny, but can't imagine why.
After a few moments of working my way through her dry dessert, she speaks again with her usual enthusiasm and I think I just imagined any suggestion of upset.
'So, Eva, your grandfather tells me you've made some friends in the village.'
Eva gives me a startled glance first before she shrugs. 'Maybe.'
Penny smiles and gives my daughter a wink. 'I hear there is a party tomorrow night. Any boys you have your eye on?'
My mouth drops open. 'I don't think that's appropriate, Penny. Eva is only twelve, she is far too young for any of that.' I look to Dad, who focusses on eating without looking up.
Penny looks surprised. 'Oh, I clean for the family on Wednesdays.' She looks back to Eva. 'I thought they said you were going, Love?'
I'm surprised when I glance at my daughter that she is reddening.
'I don't know,' she says slowly. 'I just said I might, that's all.' She twists her spoon around on her empty plate. 'I didn't want to tell them my mum wouldn't let me and sound like a little kid.'
'Eva, you didn't even tell me you had been invited to a party. You were only speaking to the girls for a short while. They are strangers, for goodness sake …'
Anything could be set to go on at this gathering – drugs, alcohol – and who knows what else. Why would they invite a girl they had only just met? Who else would be there? And what would they want from my little girl?
Dad makes a noise. 'Will said you like to keep a tight reign on her. He wasn't joking.'
Did Will really say that?
I glance around the table. Between my daughter's glum expression and the way my father and Penny look at me, anyone would think I have just banned Christmas.
'She's just too young,' I say, feeling the need to defend myself even though I know I am right. 'And we are only here for a week or so. Anyway, those girls are older. They will have different interests.'
'They turn twelve tomorrow, Mum,' Eva says quietly without looking at me. 'It's just a birthday party. Their parents will be there.'
'Oh, go on, Hannah,' Penny says. 'Let her go, enjoy herself for a change.'
I can't understand why I'm being made to feel unreasonable; A hysterical mother who won't let her child do anything fun. That is not what is happening here. I know I am right.
I'm just trying to keep my daughter safe. No unnecessary risks, that's all.
'Sorry, Eva. I wouldn't be doing my job as a parent properly if I let you go off with people I have never met. Maybe if you were a little older, perhaps.'
Eva's shoulders slump a little. I think for a few moments she believed I was going to be swayed into making a reckless decision by my clueless father and his cleaner, who isn't even any blood relation to my daughter.
If something awful happened to Eva, Penny wouldn't care. She didn't carry her for eight months or spend weeks in the special care baby unit before she was even allowed home. Nor did she care for her when she had scarlet fever as a toddler, or watch her first nativity.
I wish Will wasn't working tonight. He never seems to be around when I really need him.
I remind myself we need the money.
I take a large mouthful of wine to wash down the remaining stubborn crumbs in my throat. Swallowing is suddenly difficult.
After dinner, Dad insists on walking Penny home to her cottage a short walk across the village. It's a beautiful warm evening outside and they have both had a little too much to drink to justify being behind the wheel.
I worry about Dad walking back home alone, especially when I saw how he struggled just the other day on our walk.
I tell him not to worry about the dishes and that I will take care of everything for when he gets back.
Penny touches my arm and thanks me. 'It's nice for someone else to clean up in this house for a change. Although I'm having a little break anyway – not having to clean up after paying guests and all. You're putting me out of a job, Hannah.'
I find myself alone in the kitchen after Eva tells me she is going to the toilet and hasn't returned even ten minutes later. I assume her phone has sucked her back in upstairs and I relish having something physical to do to keep my mind off things.
It's so quiet that my mind slips back to April. I even turn around expectantly as I fill the sink as though she will walk into the room and light it with her confident smile.
The last remnants of the summer day fade outside. The sky is not yet dark, but nearer the ground the silhouettes of the trees line the fields in the distance, forming dark borders I know small creatures will soon start to shuffle about in.