She unlocked the car and started getting the girl strapped into her booster seat. I waved goodbye to them both and went over to where the telephone box had once stood. It had been taken away, but the concrete plinth remained, weeds pushing their way up through the cracks. Where were the children now, the ones like I had been, now that the turquoise ceramic pot owners had moved in?

When they’d driven off, I went back, staring at the house like I could incinerate it, thinking what it must be like to have lived the kind of life that allowed you to invite strangers into your home, to believe the walls within which you lived radiated happiness.

The car slowed down up ahead and then reversed until it drew level with me. The passenger window slid down and I heard a voice say, “Is that you, Andy?”

It was Em’s mum. I leaned down to mumble hello.

“So it is you!” But then, seeing my eyes red from crying, she said, “What’s all this then? Oh Andy, come on, get in.”

I tumbled into the car. It was a moment of need, a moment where what I needed overrode my self-control. I fell across the passenger seat into her arms, pressing my face into her jacket. June did not push me away. She was not angry with me. Instead, she stroked my hair while I wept and shook.

“I’m all right. I’m all right.” I don’t know how many times I said it.

“You been up to your mum’s?”

“Yes.” I sat back, with my hands over my face.

“Oh, Andy. Come on, love. Let’s go home.”

Not my home, of course, but Em’s. We sat in the kitchen, under the low beams. Out came the tea and cake. It was June who looked after Mum’s grave. She went up to see Em most weeks.

“Used to see your Marcus up there sometimes. I invited him back, but he never wanted to come. He’s done well with his uncle’s business.” She paused. “Got married a while back. His wife, Lisa, is friends with my Faye. Kids the same age. The boy’s a sweet little thing, but his girl is an unholy terror. Wild as the wind. Gorgeous, of course. Lisa says her dad worships her.”

We talked for a bit about her grandchildren. There were two, with a third on the way.

“I’m sorry I never came.”

“I thought you might visit. Even if it was just to see Peter’s mum and dad. Sometimes Mrs. White would pass on a bit of news if she’d spoken to him. Then I got to thinking what’s she got to come back for? There were times I’d have run off too if I could.