Lily put back her head and closed her eyes. Her hand pounded. She felt sick but that came from another pain – the knowledge that not only were her beloved parents apparently splitting up but that it was all her fault. They’d loved each other for forty years. They’d pursued their same-sex relationship at a time when it had brought unpleasantness their way, had fought for the right to be left alone to bring up their daughters. But all the time the pain of Roma’s affair with Marvin had bubbled beneath the surface, Lily reminded herself.

And it was Lily who had invoked that unhappy time again.

Tears seeped from beneath her closed lids.

Isaac put a hand on her knee. ‘I don’t have any tissues or anything,’ he murmured apologetically.

She shook her head. It didn’t matter. She was in a world of pain from within and without.

Forty minutes later, when they’d parked, Isaac changed the tea towel as the first one was by now wet. He used that to clean her cheeks.

She gave an almighty sniff. ‘Mascara?’ she managed.

He nodded, his smile gentle. ‘Feel up to walking across the car park to A and E?’

‘Of course.’

He got her out of the car and escorted her to the big canopy over the doors. The accident and emergency department proved to be busy, as always on a Saturday evening, filled with the product of brawls and accidents. Drearily, as they queued at reception and a nurse came out to assess her, Lily realised she’d been involved in a pub brawl herself.

They sat down to wait.

Isaac slid his arm around her. Lily closed her eyes. It was only when she opened them in response to a kerfuffle between drunks near the door that she realised Zinnia was sitting on a chair opposite, regarding Lily with huge, unhappy eyes.

When she saw Lily’s eyes open, Zinnia leapt off her chair and landed on her knees before her. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t know you’d put your hand out.’ She, too, had been weeping, but Isaac obviously hadn’t offered her the benefit of his damp tea towel as lines of mascara inked her cheeks.

Lily shut her eyes again. ‘If I hadn’t, that heavy flap would have hit Isaac’s head.’

‘I know now. I’ve apologised to him. Patsie’s not answering her phone but I’ve called Roma,’ Zinnia whispered.

‘Don’t you think she’s got enough to worry about?’ Lily replied dully. She was answered by silence.