‘I’ll see you on Sunday,’ I said as I stood to race out of the house.

‘Let me get your bag,’ Dad offered.

‘Hope you have a lovely weekend,’ Caitlin said, but the tone in her voice was really implying, I hope you’re okay, like my mum was a risk.

‘Of course I will, I’ll be with my mum,’ I bit back, absolutely pissed off that Caitlin might think my own mum was a threat to me.

Even though I’d tried to take my bag from Dad and bolt to the car by myself, we walked out into the heat together. He was up to something and it wasn’t hard to work out what when his eyes darted along the side of Mum’s car. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head at the scrapes of paint on the sides. And then he handed me my bag before I climbed into the car.

He leaned into Mum’s side of the window and said, ‘So you’ll have Phoebe home before dinner on Sunday night?’

Mum rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, Mark.’

‘Up to much?’

‘We’re having a quiet weekend. I’ll see you later.’ Mum reversed out of the yard and Dad waved at me, looking pissed off.

‘Always wanting to know everything,’ Mum said under her breath. ‘So how’s things?’

‘Good.’

‘I’m glad,’ Mum said and then we were out of The Village and driving through the vineyards.

‘Maybe we should have lunch at one of the wineries one day?’ she suggested.

‘Yeah, awesome,’ I said, but I could just imagine Mum having a glass of wine with lunch or something and Dad smelling it and losing his temper.

‘What do you want to do tonight?’ Mum asked.

I knew I could have requested anything after not seeing Mum for a fortnight. ‘Can we get takeaway pizza and watch something?’

‘Sounds good to me. Why don’t you order the pizza now and it’ll be delivered not long after we get home?’

After I ordered the pizza, I thought about what would be fun for Mum and me to watch. She seemed pretty distracted. Maybe she felt guilty about everything that had happened during the week? Or maybe she had a lot on at work.

‘What do you want to drink?’

I thought about the dinner with Caitlin at the pub and answered, ‘Coke.’

‘Sure.’ She pulled off into a nearby drive-through bottle shop. ‘Can’t eat pizza without a glass of wine,’ Mum said with a smile.

I didn’t know about that, but I did know that there’s nothing better than opening a pizza box, lifting out a slice of pizza and seeing all of the cheese stretch.

When we finally made it home, Mum placed her bag and keys on the kitchen bench and then poured a glass of wine. The doorbell rang – the pizza was here!

I placed it on the coffee table in the living room and threw my bag in my room. I then excitedly opened up the pizza box. My mind was blown as I took my first bite. Mum sipped her wine. The salami and pineapple tasted amazing.