‘A stupid accident. And it wouldn’t have been nearly as bad if your bloody father had got her stitched up properly.’

Will’s stomach lurched. ‘Wait, what are you saying?’

‘That damn scar. Your dad was at the medical centre with her and the doctor said it didn’t need stitches even though it clearly bloody did. And your dad—not having a go, truly, I know he loved you both to pieces—but he wasn’t good at talking to people in authority, standing up to them. He knew Lena needed stitches but the doctor said those stupid damn sticky butterfly clips would do the job and Joe didn’t argue, took her home with a great bloody crevasse in her arm, useless little stickers pulling the edges together. If they’d sutured it like they should’ve, all you’d see now is a tiny neat trail, like an old bit of spiderweb or something.’

‘I didn’t know.’ Made horrible sense. Dad so scared of doctors he didn’t go see one until his body was already swarming with cancers. All his comments about Mum being a firebrand and a troublemaker, about her insistence on arguing over incorrect bills and parking fines and people pushing in queues. Someone had to do it. Pity for Lena Mum’d been at work when Will slammed the stupid glass door that day.

‘Mum would know what to do with this situation, I think. She would. But it’d gut her.’

Aunty Nic sighed, looked pretty gutted herself. ‘When Lena comes back,’ she said, ‘we’ll find out what’s what, sort it out.’

‘She’s not going to want to talk about it.’

‘No, but that’s too bad. She’s going to have to whether she wants to or not.’

Will raised his eyebrows and Aunty Nic raised hers back. ‘That’s what you two said about chucking all my stuff out, wasn’t it?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Well, there you go.’

‘It wasn’t right, though. You were devastated.’

‘I was. Am. You understand that, Will? It’s all still …’ Aunty Nic inhaled, tilted her head from side to side, exhaled. ‘So let’s try to handle this situation a little better, hey? We’ll talk to her, listen, not decide we know what’s best and go behind her back? Yeah?’

Will nodded. Felt hot shame at what they’d done to her.

‘And just for the record,’ she said, ‘I would have loved you to move in here after you got out. Entirely my fault you didn’t know that. My fault, my loss.’

‘It doesn’t matter now, Aunty Nic. It’s in the past.’

‘Maybe, but I’m feeling it in the now so it needs to be said. I would have loved having you here and even with everything that’s … Even with everything, I’m glad you’re here now.’