He was almost back at the house. The last of his post-dental bliss evaporated as he realised Aunty Nic had been here all day without food or anyone to get her medication or help her to the bathroom. He pulled up Uber Eats on his phone, ordered several serves of spag bol from a local Italian joint along with garlic bread, salad, lemonade and a serve of tiramisu. He used the Mastercard in case he’d maxed out the Visa at the dentist.

Aunty Nic would know what to do. Or maybe she wouldn’t but, fuck it, she would have to figure it out. That’s what Lena had done for her and, yeah, maybe she’d gone about it wrong, but she bloody tried, didn’t she? Didn’t move states or flee north and find another family. Didn’t plug up her ears and close her eyes and build a fortress made of memories and two-dollar-shop tat. She turned up and she gritted her teeth and she tried. Only one in the whole damn family who still knew you could do that. Only one until now.

FOUR

WILL

WILL

He’d found Aunty Nic wide-awake on the spare bed. It was a miracle she’d made it there without another serious accident. He nearly stacked it trying to get across to help her up, then again fleeing when she barked at him that she could move on her own, thank you very much.

True to her word, she made her own way to the kitchen when the food arrived. She was sulky at first, refusing to look at him, shrugging or grunting when he offered her a drink or bread or salad. Eventually, though, the spag bol worked its magic and she began to answer his questions with more than one-word answers. He learnt that the pain was better than yesterday, that she had slept half the day or more and that her phone was missing. Her tone suggested that he might have something to do with its disappearance; he told her he had no idea, promised to find it for her after dinner.

‘Weird thing happened today,’ he said, as he was clearing the plates. ‘Nearly got hit by a bus. Fella pulled me back just in time.’

‘Will! God! Where were you? You all right?’

‘Yeah, good now. I need to confess something, though.’ He kept his back to her—cowardly, he supposed, but he didn’t know how else to do it. ‘I was spaced out because I’ve, um, I’ve been knocking off your tablets. The Endone. Had this killer toothache and couldn’t afford to get it looked at. So I’ve been—’

‘Why didn’t you just ask, for goodness sake? I would’ve given you some. Would’ve paid for the damn dentist.’