Trusting people is hard. Especially when I can’t see them face-to-face, listen to their voices and look them in the eye. So it’s just me and William now, but we make a good team and I’ve been relearning the joy of just spending time with him, giving him all my attention, rather than feeling I should keep one eye on my phone all the time. I feel calmer, clearer, more focused on what’s important. I’ve avoided social media completely since it happened, gone cold turkey on my generation’s compulsion to share every event, every emotion, every success, every random thought, every half-funny conversation. Because it’s not the photographing and sharing and broadcasting that makes something what it is. It’s the doing. The being. The experience of it. The wonderfully unfunny joke your son tells you, or the smile of a stranger on the street, the day out, the blue-sky Saturday, the unexpected kindness, or one of a thousand other things that make it worth getting out of bed in the morning. That’s the truth. That’s what’s real.

I bought William a pet in the end, just like he wanted. Not a hamster – a hamster is a prey animal. Instead we got a cat from the rescue shelter. A big black tomcat named Shadow. Cats don’t need anyone, they can do fine on their own. They live in the moment and trust their eyes and ears, what they can see in front of them – I think we can all learn something from that.

William sometimes asks me when his Mummy’s coming home.

I haven’t told him about what happened between us, or about her and Beth. I tell him that she had to go away for a while, with work, and I’m not sure when she’s going to be coming back. I tell him that we’ll be all right for a bit, just me and him, and that Mummy will be back one day soon. Back home so it’s the three of us again, a family, just like before.

That’s one lie I’ll keep going as long as I can.

Read on for an exclusive letter from TM Logan and a chance to join his reader’s club . . .

A message from TM Logan

A message from TM Logan…

Hello!

First of all, I want to thank to you for picking up LIES. I love this story and I think it will always be special to me as my debut novel. But I’m still amazed that so many people are reading it and I’m incredibly grateful that you’ve given me your time to follow the story of Joe, Mel, Beth and Ben. So, thank you – I appreciate it.