‘Can you just spend some time with her. Nobody visits anymore. Amber did once, but she found it too hard. People of your age, it’s…Well, it’s hard for us too. Me. Your mum. She came, of course.’

Connor isn’t surprised. He knows Mum blames herself, not for what happened, but for what came after. He didn’t know she’d been to see Hailey, but there had been times she’d asked him if he wanted to visit, offering to drive him, but Connor had felt overcome with the weight of expectation. Would a decent boyfriend have stayed? A decent human being?

Yes. He believes so.

‘What should I…’ Connor sits on the chair.

‘Just talk to her. It’s so quiet here. Too quiet. Those first few weeks in hospital were easier. It was busy. Always someone coming and going. Now it’s just Aileen, her nurse – she’s gone for lunch – and me and… I… I was going to give up work, but then I’d be here all day, seeing her. Remembering her. Hoping she’ll change back into the person she was, trying to come to terms with the person she is now. Connor. I shouldn’t have dragged you from your house but…’

‘I needed dragging,’ Connor says. ‘I’ve been a coward. Not just because I’ve avoided Hailey, but I’ve blamed everyone. I blamed Mum.’ He looks directly at Mr Marshall. ‘I am so sorry. I want to tell you what happened that night. All of it.’

‘And I want to hear it, but first…’ Mr Marshall looks pointedly at Hailey. ‘I’ll give you two some space.’

He leaves the room.

Anxiety nips at Connor. What should he do? Say?

Tentatively, he sits on the edge of the bed and meets the eyes he has lost himself in time and time again.

‘Do you… Do you remember the first time we went out?’ He recounts the story. They had been studying together at his house when Hailey’s stomach had grumbled.

‘Got anything to nibble on?’ she had asked.

He’d pounded downstairs and opened the fridge. Dad had been shopping the day before and it was laden with food.

‘Sorry.’ Back upstairs, he’d hovered in his doorway. His fingers nervously pulling the neck of his T-shirt away from his throat. ‘The cupboards are bare… Do you fancy going into town and grabbing a pizza or something?’ He casually spoke the words he’d been rehearsing all the way up the stairs. Please say yes. Please say yes.

‘Yeah. I could do with a break.’

His heart swelled.