‘And how’s your basketball going?’ Mum asked me.

‘You should come and see for yourself sometime,’ I told her.

‘I’d love too,’ she replied, like she was Mum of the Year.

I thought I’d drop it before I lost my cool. I felt so powerless to stop what I knew was coming. But then I said, ‘Mum, I’m singing in a school performance at the end of June. I really want you and Nana to come along.’

‘You’re singing?’ she said. ‘What are you singing?’

‘It’s a surprise,’ I told her, ‘although I can say it’s something that you’ll really love.’

‘Like Bon Jovi,’ Simon suggested, and I looked at him like, dickhead.

‘Ha!’ Mum almost screamed. ‘We used to love Bon Jovi.’

‘You’ll love this more,’ I promised. ‘I’ll put it in your calendar,’ I said, taking her phone from her. I wrote, really important special school music performance starring Phoebe on the specific day.

And then the thing I had been dreading all night finally came after we’d all finished our meals. ‘Would anyone like coffee?’ Nana offered.

Simon responded by saying, ‘We were thinking about heading out to the local for a quiet drink. Want to join us, Phoebe?’

He knew there was no way I was going to agree to that. ‘No thanks.’

Nana said, ‘That sounds lovely. You should go before it’s too late.’

Mum patted my shoulder. ‘I won’t be too late. There’s some things I want to do with you in the morning.’

Whatever, I thought, at least glad that I didn’t have to look at Simon for much longer.

Mum grabbed her bag, kissed me on the forehead and walked to the door with Simon.

Irritated, I started clearing the table and running the sink to wash the dishes. I was hoping that I could also wash the disappointment off of me.

‘He seems nice,’ Nana said. I was about to scream.

‘Why?’ I asked, barely keeping my cool.

‘He’s very smiley and his job is impressive. Your father never smiled much, Phoebe.’

Well that’s not true, I thought, remembering how he smiled a lot more since meeting Caitlin.

‘And it’s nice that your mum has met someone, don’t you think?’

I shrugged and started washing some of the dishes.

When Nana and I had finished, she said, ‘Would you like to watch something on TV, dear?’

I’d already started worrying about Mum being out with sleazy Simon and if I’d ever see her again, so I thought, why not?

‘Give me a minute to get changed,’ I told her.

I walked into the spare room and there were all of Mum’s things spread over the bed: her clothes still on hangers, shoes in a box, her jewellery and things on the drawers. I didn’t know what to make of it all and called out to Nana.