‘Where did you get the drugs?’

‘Gran.’

‘She is hardcore,’ Della said.

‘Yeah.’

‘I heard you’re going to live with Davey,’ Della said, and tears sprang in her eyes.

‘Please don’t,’ Kyle said.

Della gave him a thump. ‘She can do what she wants. Is that what you want, Juliet? ’Cause my ma meant it when she said you could move in with us.’

‘I can’t,’ Juliet said.

‘Why?’ Della asked.

‘Me ma wanted me with Davey.’

‘And what do you want?’

‘I want me ma,’ she said, and tears slipped from her eyes and ran down her face.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘America’s cool,’ Kyle said, pulling out a tissue from his pocket. It had clearly had been used to blow his nose. He tried to hand it to Juliet who refused it by waving it away.

‘That’s gross,’ Della said.

Kyle looked abashed. ‘Sorry.’

Juliet suddenly needed to sit down, so she did. She sat on the ground. Her friends followed her. One either side, shoulders touching.

‘What if I hate it?’ Juliet whispered.

‘You couldn’t, it’s America,’ Della said, and Kyle nodded and reiterated that America was cool.

‘Besides, you can always come home,’ he said, and Juliet’s eyes leaked once more. What is home? she thought. Home is where me ma is. I have no home, just like Davey. After a lot more digging Kyle found a clean tissue and handed it to Juliet. She wiped away her tears. I’m just like Davey, she thought.

‘You OK?’ Della asked.

‘No, but I’ll be OK. I’ll be with Davey.’

‘I’ll really miss you,’ Della replied, ‘but we’ll Skype and WhatsApp and Viber all the time.’

‘Yeah,’ Juliet agreed, but already she felt distance creep between them.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Marjorie

Chapter Twenty-Four

Marjorie

FOLLOWING THE CHAPEL THE mourners were invited to gather in the Clontarf Castle for food and drink. Marjorie sat at the bar. Davey placed a glass of red wine in her hand.

‘Hanging in there?’ he asked.

‘Suppose so,’ she said.

‘The poem was lovely.’

‘Shut up, Davey.’

‘I’m really getting sick of being told to shut up.’

She grinned a little. He sat on the stool next to her.

‘Are you going to be OK tonight?’ he asked.

‘What does that mean?’

‘It’s just a question.’

‘Right.’

‘What do you think it means?’

‘I don’t know, Davey. I’m tired.’

She was staring over at her ex-husband and his new pregnant girlfriend, the effervescent Debbie.

‘I see Neil came.’

‘Yip.’

‘That was nice of him, when all is said and done.’

‘He was very fond of Rabbit,’ she said, and she took a large slug from the glass of wine.

‘So that’s the girlfriend.’

‘That’s her.’

‘Pretty.’

She took a moment to turn to him and give him a filthy look.

He smiled. ‘Not a patch on you.’

‘Why’s she here, Davey?’ she asked.

‘Support.’