Another song starts, which Yvonne recognises as Dr Dre. It makes Yvonne think of the crap house party she and Emma went to one Christmas break, it took three buses to get there and when they finally arrived everyone was already drunk. They danced with Two Minute Terry then Emma cut off the music to lecture everyone on how wrong it was to use the N word, even in the context of a rap song. These are stories Kiama would love to hear and only Yvonne can give them to him. Yvonne is his closest link to his dead mother.

She tears at the damp napkins under the table and for once allows her mind to block out all logic. ‘Kiama?’

When he looks up at her this time she doesn’t see a reflection of Lewis or Emma, but the vulnerable eight-year-old boy she left when he needed her the most. ‘I’ve decided to come with you.’

Chapter Four

Pumpkins

September 2020

Kiama

‘So who was that lady earlier?’ Tina asks Kiama as he unlocks his bike from the railings. Or is her name Trina? He can never remember and feels bad asking now, especially after what happened on the last staff night out.

‘Family friend?’ he answers, noticing his voice lift at the end, as if he’s asking her a question.

She puffs out smoke and laughs. ‘You don’t sound too sure.’

That’s because he’s not. What is Yvonne’s link to him really? She’s not just some friend of Mum’s, it’s more complicated than that. He takes his phone and EarPods from his pocket then sees a message from Dad.

Special K, you eating here this evening?

Then.

I’m making lasagne, says serves 6 on the jar.

Kiama sends back the thumbs up emoji and waves bye to Tina/Trina. By the time he wheels his bike round the front there’s another four messages from Dad.

You need anything from the shops?

Doritos

Quinoa?

Opioids?

Kiama laughs and messages back, Should go without saying. He cycles off towards Nana’s house, taking the long way across the rec grounds, allowing a bit more time to clear his head and think about what he’s going to say, how he’s going to phrase it.

It’s only ten days he’s going for. It’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. After Nana died he went off travelling for three months and Dad was cool with it, encouraging even. Though he knows deep down that it’s not so much the length of the trip, it’s the destination that’s going to cause the kick-off.

Kiama jumps off the bike as he nears the drive and wheels it down the side alley, finding Dad in the garden.

‘Old Man?’ he calls, ‘Why aren’t you in the kitchen already?’