‘No, I was going to see the boys, Justin and Wade. I am going to ask them a few questions. They were still in hospital for Wren’s funeral and I was in no state anyway, so I’m going to pay them a little visit.’ She waited for him to explode.

‘What do you need to see them for? Why do you want to open old wounds?’

‘Because they’re not healed!’ she yelled. ‘And I want to know what happened in Wren’s last moments. What’s so wrong with that?’

‘His lasts moments as he lay on the grass dying?’

She was stunned. ‘I’ve never known you to be so insensitive ever since I met you. What is it with you?’ She felt the tears prick behind her eyes.

‘I told you, I want my wife back.’ He glared at her and she glared back at him.

‘Well, this is the wrong way to go about it, let me tell you that. I haven’t even forgiven you for ripping up Olivia’s diary.’

‘It was the right thing to do,’ he said, jaw set, eyes blazing.

‘It wasn’t your property or your call to make.’

‘Ness,’ he said, trying hard to keep his anger in check, ‘we’ve been through this. It wasn’t healthy for you and this Ryan guy shouldn’t have asked you to do it.’

‘Actually, I volunteered since he couldn’t do it himself. Got anything to say about that?’

‘I want you to drop it. Don’t go and see Justin or Wade.’

‘I can’t promise you that,’ she said defiantly.

‘I forbid you to talk to them.’

‘Wow,’ Vanessa said. ‘You know who you sound like? Mark.’ She walked out of the room.

Billy followed her. ‘I’m nothing like him and on that subject, is it really a good idea for him to see Ty alone next week?’

‘Yeah, it is, he’s changed Billy. Are we really going to do this right now?’ Vanessa asked.

‘I just don’t think it’s a good idea, that’s all.’

‘Well, Billy, that’s not your decision, is it?’ Argument won, she stared at him.

‘You’ve changed, Ness. So much.’

‘I told you,’ she said, frustrated and angry still. ‘I’m a different person. You don’t understand, do you?’

‘I do.’

‘How can you? You’ve never lost a child.’ She knew it was a shitty thing to say, but she couldn’t help herself. Billy had always thought and treated Wren as his own, he’d always promised her he would. She knew it was fucked up to say that.

He looked crestfallen. ‘I’ve always considered Wren my own. I miss him every day, Ness. You know that.’