‘I’ve got to fly out in the morning. I’m Sarah’s next of kin.’ He sighed again, almost a groan, and looked at Tara, then Toby. ‘I have to be there. For Molly, as well as Sarah.’

A triangle – Keith–Sarah–Molly. Each other’s next of kin.

And we’re on the outside, thought Tara. Me and Toby, pushed out, yet again.

As soon as the thought went through her mind she was ashamed of it, but she couldn’t stop. Thoughts and feelings tumbled out of a place in her head that she’d kept locked up for a long, long time: angry, resentful, childish thoughts.

It was always about someone else. Dad’s attention was always somewhere else.

‘Doesn’t Sarah have parents?’ she heard herself say. ‘Or siblings?’

‘Tara!’ Toby and her dad were both staring at her, shocked.

‘Well.’ Tara distantly remembered this shameful feeling from somewhere in her past: knowing you were saying something bad but too lashed on by your feelings to stop. ‘Surely you should be here with Molly? You’re her father. She needs you. How do you think she’s going to feel if you’re not here in the morning?’

The pain on Keith’s face made something shrivel inside Tara. ‘She’ll know I’ve gone to look after her mum. And that I’ve left her in the care of two people I trust most in the whole world.’

‘Of course we’ll keep an eye on Molly,’ said Toby, with a quick ‘shut up’ glance at Tara. ‘Are you going to tell her what’s happening?’

‘I’ll explain in the morning.’ He checked his watch. ‘Probably time to call it a night. I’ve got to get flights booked.’ Keith looked up at the night sky, glowing behind the shifting clouds.

The lightning hadn’t stopped. The storm was coming nearer.

‘Let’s get some sleep,’ he said. ‘Things will look better in the morning.’

‘Night, Dad,’ said Toby, and with an ambiguous glance at his sister, turned and went inside.

Tara sat in the garden on her own until the fizzing sensation in her veins died down. Her head churned with so many thoughts that everything blurred into white noise, and all she could do was stare at the distant flashes in the sky.

Eventually she went inside, and found the bottle of Midsummer Gin. There was an inch left in the bottom, and she poured it down the sink.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Keith left for the airport at seven the following morning, depositing Molly and Lloyd on Tara’s doorstep while she was still yawning in Ruth’s embroidered dressing gown, groggy with the after-effects of last night’s gin, and also last night’s argument.