They took themselves into the shower and had sex again – this time less intense, more intimate, both of them naked, stripped bare. Lenny touched her new breasts in a way that wasn’t medical, and the more she encouraged him the less tentative he became.

‘You won’t break them.’

‘Any pain?’

‘None.’

‘Any sensation?’

‘Yes,’ she said, and he sighed and he looked like he was going to cry, so she kissed him. She was surprised she had some feeling, not just tingling, and the sharp nerve pain was totally gone. It was pleasant, it was comforting, and she felt like she was home.

Afterwards they lay in bed together for an hour, just staring at each other’s facial expressions and tracing each other’s body contours. They were like kids, rediscovering themselves and each other. They talked easily and laughed at silly things; they were like a young couple, new to one another and excited.

‘Why did this take so long?’ he asked.

‘I think we were both suffering a little PTSD,’ she said.

‘I wish we’d done it sooner, me balls have been bursting.’

‘I had a little lady-bursting of my own going on.’

‘You’re having the oophorectomy in a month’s time.’

‘We’re not going to let this happen again,’ she said.

‘You’re going to experience the change.’

‘It will be managed. I will manage it. We know what we’re doing now, right?’

‘Your ma was mental.’

‘My ma is mental.’

‘You’re kind of mental, too.’

She laughed. ‘It’s going to be fine.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, and they had sex for a third time. She was exhausted, and poor Lenny felt so depleted he considered missing his flight. He left in a taxi and she passed out into a blissful sleep, but before she did she counted her blessings.

Chapter Sixty-Four: Jack

Chapter Sixty-Four

Jack

JACK FOUND MOLLY’S ANTIDEPRESSANTS one day while she was out making soup or sorting clothes or God knows what. He rifled through her room trying to find evidence of the woman he still loved. The tablets were a shock. This is not you, Molly. Where did you go? He didn’t tell anyone about it. He didn’t say anything to Molly; he just watched out for her as much as he could and he tried his best to be as considerate and kind as she’d let him. Davey tried to talk to both of them but he didn’t get very far – they weren’t fighting, there was no shouting or cross talk, and his mother’s lethargy was insurmountable.