My shoulders hitched up around my ears as I slumped lower in the seat. ‘I’m back at work tomorrow, and I’ll need a whole day to get the train there and back. It’ll have to be New Year’s Day.’

‘What are you doing after this? Are you seeing Adam?’

‘Once everyone’s back from the hospital, it’ll be a quiet night in front of the television. Even Mum won’t have any energy left by then.’ I paused, my voice box suddenly tight. ‘I saw Adam earlier on.’

‘Let’s do it today, then.’

‘What?’

I stared long enough for him to give in and throw me a glance. ‘I’ll drive you there this afternoon. If you like. I’m fairly sure your nerves can’t take three more days of not knowing. I’m very sure mine can’t handle watching you like this.’

‘Henry…’

‘Yes?’

I had to swallow back the tearful lump in my throat. This man never failed to surprise me. ‘That would be amazing. Thank you.’

‘Another road trip with my favourite weathergirl, where anything can happen and probably will? It’s my pleasure.’ He looked over again. ‘Hey, maybe your animatronic elf would like to come, too?’

28

Nana Joy woke up as we arrived at her bedside. Her pallor was perhaps a shade less grey than the day before, although her cheeks were still sunken and her eyelids could have been made of lead, the effort it took to keep them open.

‘Oh, hello, you’re with this one again, are you?’ she said, raising one spindly eyebrow. ‘I think you made the better choice.’

‘Henry gave me a lift, Nana. That’s all.’ I leant forwards to give her a kiss, hoping it would hide my furious blush. I’d spent a lifetime being teased about Henry, but now that I liked him, it was genuinely awkward.

We spent a few minutes chatting about nothing much, Nana Joy expressing her strident opinions on the other occupants of the ward, the hospital staff, and the ‘pig-swill’ they’d tried to pass off as lunch. Hearing her sounding almost back to normal, I decided to take a risk.

‘Nana Joy, I was reading that feature that was written about you, right before Dad was born. The one where the journalist shadowed you for a few weeks.’

No reply.

‘His name was Tony O’Dowd. He wrote a really lovely piece. He clearly admired you.’

‘Most people did. I was a star,’ she drawled, sounding positively bored by the topic.

‘Right. Only… I was wondering if it was more than that. There seemed to be sincere affection there. A friendship. Or… were you more than friends, at all?’