Trish massages a little dollop of hand cream into her palms and puts her wedding ring back on. She looks deep in thought, as if she’s trying to picture something. Then she laughs: a silent belly laugh, causing her to shake. She shuts her eyes and holds onto the sink, bowing her head and letting the laughter come in gentle waves.

‘You farted?’ she squeaks.

‘I didn’t mean to!’

Then she throws her head back, cackling, louder with each laugh. Just listening to her makes me feel like I’m being tickled, and it’s infectious, so I slap my hand over my mouth to control myself. Trish’s howling now, not too dissimilar from Jack, a trait he definitely inherited from her. My eyes are wet and I fight back the tears, laughing at my own embarrassment, but laughing with Trish – actually with her. She holds out her hand to me, so I stand and take it. We’re crossing our legs, bent sideways, crunching each other’s hands, laughing. She catches her breath and says, ‘Ooooh,’ before another wave sends her laughing again.

Eventually she breathes a long sigh, which I reciprocate. We’re knocked for six.

Trish composes herself, re-spikes her hair, pinches her cheekbones. Ever the professional. She taps the sink with her fingertips.

‘Yes,’ she whispers to herself, then looks to me. ‘I get it now.’

‘Get what?’

‘Well, you’re the reason I hardly saw my son in the last few months of his life.’

‘Oh, God!’

‘Chloe. I knew everything about my son. Everything. He was an open book, never had a single secret.’

‘You’ve got Florrie to thank for that,’ I say, shocking myself.

‘Yes, I do have Florrie to thank for that. We only learn by making mistakes. Jack took a long hard look at himself after what he did to her. Gave him the ability to make better choices moving forward. He used to be such a people-pleaser as a child. Drove me mad. He didn’t need to be anything other than his totally brilliant self.’

I smile, feel a glow of warmth.

‘I didn’t realise until after he died,’ Trish goes on, ‘that I hadn’t seen that much of him during the first part of this year. Time goes so quickly – you know how it is. It’s taken me a while to figure it out, but now I know he had a secret. You.’

My smile drops so spectacularly that I practically hear it smash.

‘A secret?’ I ask.

Trish nods.