“Can we stop for a bit before we go home?” At its base, that isn’t a strange request. Sometimes we meet up with some of the guys to skate, but I can hear a wobble in his voice and it’s putting me on edge.

“Where do you want to go?” The sun is shining down, but my sunny mood feels like it’s floating away in the breeze.

“Maybe the park?” I watch in the mirror as he worries at his bottom lip while watching the world zoom by out of the window.

“You wanna play in the park for a bit?” Please want to play, please tell me this weird mood is all in my head.

“No, I–I want to talk to you about something.” Well shit.

“Oh okay, yeah we can do that.” I just need to pull myself together before we get there.

By the time I’ve pulled into a space at the park I would say I am about 30 per cent more chill. Not a lot, but Ellis’s son is asking for a private chat. He could tell me he doesn’t want to live in my house any more. He could tell me to leave him and his mom alone altogether.

I have my fingers crossed that maybe he just has a problem at school he wants to talk about or maybe he has his first little crush. The thing that settles me most is when I jump out of the car and I flick through my wallet polaroids. Seeing Ellis’s growing bump calms my soul. Every month I look forward to adding another to my collection, since she lives in my house now, Ellis argued that she doesn’t need to take them any more. Yeah, no, I love these little reminders of what is coming.

We walk in silence hand in hand through the winding paths for a while. Summer in this park is beautiful, but until Jack came into my life I hardly spent any time here. Even when I go for a run I tend to go around the neighbourhood or in the gym, but I’ve been missing out.

Tall trees edge the paths and grow far overhead, painting sprawling shadows along the walkway. In the distance I can hear the sound of children in the main section of the park. It’s louder than usual, but that’s not surprising given the weather. I do wish we were somewhere more private for whatever this conversation is, but there is something calming about this place. Even if it is full of children and their parents staring at me to figure out where they recognise me from, it must be something to do with having Jack by my side that makes it so enjoyable.