Marcy began thinking about the letters now, and the parts that had affected her the most. She was remembering letting go of her anger and vindictiveness at the unexpected tenderness she’d felt over their transparent bravado, when her heart suddenly lurched. The door was opening.

A woman came through with a tray of refreshments. Marcy watched her set it on the sideboard, then felt Claudia’s hand tighten on hers. She turned back to the door and her heart stilled again. A young man was filling the space and looking vaguely like the mugshots she’d seen on the news, but only vaguely. He was tall and clean shaven; his dark hair was combed back from his forehead, and his brown eyes as he looked at Dan showed the same vulnerability she’d picked up in his letters. There was no air of arrogance or cockiness about him, no sense of boredom or irritation; almost nothing of what she’d primed herself for, not even any tattoos or piercings.

“Everyone,” Dan said, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder as he turned to address the room, “this is Archie.”

Marcy, Claudia, and Jasmine watched as Andee went to greet him, introducing herself as their supporter, shaking his hand and thanking him for coming. As she returned to her place Dan led him to the other side of the table and before they sat down he continued his introductions.

“Archie, this is Claudia Winters.”

Archie started to reach out a hand but pulled it back when Claudia simply raised hers in greeting.

“This is Claudia’s daughter, Jasmine,” Dan continued.

He didn’t attempt to shake this time, simply gave her the same sort of awkward salute that she gave him.

“And this is Marcy Kavanagh,” Dan said.

As Archie’s eyes came to her Marcy ached inside to see his shock, horror—and was it panic? She obviously looked even worse than he’d expected, and he didn’t know what to do or say. She suspected he’d run, if he could.

Although she’d expected him to react to her scarring, and had been bracing herself for it, now that it was happening she had no idea what to do. Until, as though it had a will of its own, her right hand reached toward him offering to shake. He took it, tentatively, and managed a wrenchingly self-conscious hello.

Dan put a hand on his shoulder and held it there, gently easing him into his chair as Andee dished out the coffees.

Finally, Dan said, “OK, I’ll start off with a few easy rules to get us going. First, try not to interrupt when someone else is speaking. Second, if anyone feels they need time out at any point, just raise a hand and it can happen. Next, all our phones should be switched off—I think we did that before we came in. Lastly let’s do our best not to swear—Archie.”