“What do you mean?” asks Lily.

“Her mother, Rachel, and I were only together for a few months and then she moved away. I found out about Tilly when a friend of mine let something slip. Apparently, everyone in the world knew I was the father of the baby except me,” he adds bitterly.

I feel as if my life has become a whirlpool and I’m going round and round faster and faster as I head towards the plughole.

“That must have been a-a shock,” I stammer.

He fixes me with a stare. “Can you blame her, Trish? She’d met Dad and heard about Mum. I imagine she wanted to raise her child as far away from them as possible.”

“Don’t you think she should have told you anyway?” says Lily. “Besides, we aren’t living in the Dark Ages. You don’t have to get your parents’ approval.”

I still have my eyes locked with Will’s.

“It wasn’t about getting Mum and Dad to approve, Lils,” I say quietly. “That would never have happened.”

“What was it, then?”

I was wrong – Will’s eyes are different to Dad’s. They’re softer, and wary of what I might say next.

“Dad would have lost it,” I say firmly. “Then Mum would have shut herself in her room for a month until we either managed to coax her out or she found another way to try to kill herself. And we’d have carried on acting like everything was just fine – or face the consequences. The way we were taught from the day we were born.”

Will blinks several times, then gives me a ghost of a smile.

“That about covers it,” he says.

“Well,” Lily breathes. “Talk about intense. How come you never said anything?”

My friends are looking at me like I’m someone they don’t fully recognize. Mags even looks a little scared.

I flick my thumb against my finger, desperate to steer the conversation away from my parents.

“Where’s Tilly?” I ask Will.

“She’s staying in hospital overnight. Usually I sleep – well, try to sleep – on the chair in her room, but she insisted I stay in the hotel down the road. I swear Tilly’s seven going on twenty-one.” Will smiles weakly and has a long, slow sip of his tea.

Lily let’s out a noisy sigh. “I’m surprised you turned out as well as you did, Trish.” She winks to let me know she’s joking.

“You might want to re-assess that when you hear how I burst into tears and cried all over some stranger on the plane because he happened to mention my mother.”

“But you never cry,” Lily says, horrified.

“Exactly.”

“Was this stranger the mystery guy who later took you to a wedding and confessed he was deeply attracted to you?” Emma asks.

Mags and Lily both leap out of their seats.

“What?” they shout in unison.