‘I know. Mum says she has the money. But it costs twice as much as I earn in a month and…’ She made a face. ‘I need some self-respect. Anyway! I met Devin’s grandad today. He said to tell you he…what was it? “Sends his regards”.’

‘…Is it just me or does that sound slightly threatening? Like when the Mafia man says, “You have a beautiful daughter, it would be a shame if anything happened to her”?’

‘He said you’re to come to his birthday thing.’

‘A birthday thing? But…his wife has just died.’

Kate looked anxious. ‘All I know is, it’s Saturday teatime, at Devin’s parents. Pizza and prosecco. So what’ll I tell him?’

I was astonished. ‘No, Kate. You tell him no.’

What the hell did he want with me? He’d once been my father-in-law—he’d been pleasant, certainly, but it’s not as if we’d been close. Even when things were good with Luke, Mr Costello and I had lived on different continents.

And after Luke had left, shame had stopped me from keeping up with the Costellos.

‘Oh, yeah.’ Kate fished something from her bag. ‘Do you need anything from Zara? I’ve a credit note.’

‘How come?’

‘I lent Kallie fifty euro. She repaid me with this credit note, it’s for sixty-seven euro. But I can’t afford to buy clothes right now.’

I put out my hand. ‘Can I see?’

I looked up the item code on the credit note and discovered it was the dress Kallie had worn to the restaurant last night. Trying to make sense of things, I concluded she’d bought it, worn it, returned it and for some reason—maybe because it was obvious she’d worn it?—they wouldn’t give her a cash refund.

So…Kallie was short of money? She’d wanted a new dress and she’d scammed Zara? It was hard to summon any real outrage about that, but to fob Kate off when she really needed cash—that wasn’t cool.

‘I was looking at a shirt in Zara, I’ll buy this off you,’ I said.

‘You will?’ Her face lit with relief. ‘Thanks, Rachel!’

*

Just before bedtime, my phone rang—Luke.

‘It’s my dad’s birthday on Saturday,’ he said. ‘Sarina is doing a thing in the house—pizzas, cake. Around twenty, twenty-five people. Dad would like you to come. Quin too.’

‘But…why?’

‘To tie up loose ends, he says. You were part of his family, then you weren’t.’ Defensively, he said, ‘That’s what he’s told me. Make whatever you want of it.’

‘It’s only been two weeks since your mum died.’

Sounding weary, Luke said, ‘Yeah. He’s gone a bit…Look, we’re all slightly insane right now. He’s adamant he wants this, says it might be his last-ever birthday…A dab hand at emotional blackmail.’

Go.

No.

Go!