Vanessa didn’t reply, she couldn’t form any more words. It was like she had used up her daily allotment of speech, and that was it. No more.

Billy stood, tugging her with him into a standing position. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to give her a centering hug like he’d done a hundred times before, Her arms hung limp at her sides. He let go, then opened the door, ushering her out.

Maggie and Ty were waiting for them at the kitchen table. Maggie stood up when she saw her, throwing her arms around her best friend. Maggie was whispering words that didn’t make sense into her ear, patting her back like she was a child.

‘Mom?’ A small voice cut through the tension and Vanessa’s heart. She would never again hear Wren call her Mom. She swallowed her tears, not wanting to fall to pieces in front of Ty. She looked over at Ty, but instead of looking at him, her gaze settled on a point above him. She could see Billy and Maggie staring at her from the corner of her eye.

Billy pulled out a chair across from Ty, which scraped across the floor. Vanessa winced at the sound; it grated on her already frayed nerves. She felt like a stone; she couldn’t move, yet she wished more than anything to run. From this conversation, from this situation, from this life.

‘Ness? Want to sit down?’ Maggie whispered.

Vanessa looked at Ty.

He looked so small, sitting at the table that he’d sat at thousands of times before, opposite from Wren. Billy was sitting in Wren’s chair and she wanted to scream at him to move, but she didn’t have the energy to.

‘Buddy,’ Billy began, Maggie hiccupping slightly. Vanessa glared at her; she caught the glare and covered her mouth. ‘We need to talk to you.’

Vanessa looked at her youngest son – her only son – and wondered if she could even be in the same room as him when he heard what Billy was about to say.

Billy grabbed his hand gently and bowed his head. Vanessa stared at them, almost removed from the situation yet dreading the words that came next. She didn’t know how to act, what to do with her hands, so they fluttered up to her neck, danced around her collarbone before dropping to her sides again.

‘You may have seen that Wren isn’t with us this morning,’ Billy began. He looked over at Maggie, then up at his wife. Vanessa met his eyes, but what Billy saw in them made him turn away quickly.