As she leaves, the Meanest One comments on the obvious family resemblance and Nic immediately renames her the Best and Most Observant One. Michelle likes to say her kids have grown up to be all Joe and Nic understands that she misses her husband and searches him out in the faces of her children. It’s not true, though. Will and Lena’s faces are her family’s faces, one hundred per cent. Both have Mum’s high forehead and deep-set brown eyes. Lena has Dad’s dimple and Will has his lashes, so thick and dark you’d think he was wearing mascara. Both of them have Michelle’s lips, the top one almost as full as the bottom. And like their mother they both unconsciously puff their lips out when they’re concentrating or overtired. Will’s smile is Steve’s is Dad’s. And Lena’s smile is Nic’s own, everyone says it. Only their lankiness gives them away as not pure Miller. Her family all pears and apples, not a string bean among them until these two.

‘So, Lena’s preparing for exams and what about you? What’ve you been up to?’

‘Ah, you know.’ Those sliding eyes again!

‘Catching up with old mates?’

‘Nah. To be honest, Aunty Nic, I’ve just kind of been moping a bit. A lot.’

‘Sorry to hear that. Feel like talking about it? I’ve got all the time in the world.’ She gestures to herself, stuck in bed, but his gaze is on the far wall.

‘Yeah, nah. I mean, not much to say. It just … it blindsided me, you know. The break-up. I’d been on a bit of a bender. Me and the other blokes who’d been laid off, we really …’ He shakes his head, cringes as if the hangover’s still there. ‘Anyway, I came home messy as, slept most of the next day, get up late in the arvo and Mercy’s waiting for me in the kitchen, tells me it’s been fun, but time’s up.’

‘Because you got blotto one time? Seems harsh. Unless it wasn’t just the one time?’

‘Yeah, see, that’s the thing. I never got smashed like that since we’ve been together. Total one-off and I’d just lost my job, so, you know, give me a fucking break. But once I shut up and listened to her properly, you know, she wasn’t even talking about my coming home maggoted. She was saying she’d been feeling for a while that it was time to split but had been waiting until the kids were at her ex’s to talk to me. He’s FIFO, so it’s always a while between their week with him and, she said, you know, the timing’s unfortunate, because of me losing the job and that, but …’

‘Oh, Will. And you didn’t know? Didn’t feel anything was wrong?’