‘Don’t be silly. I’ll drive you all home.’ They piled into the car; Vanessa dropped off Justin, followed later by Wade. Justin lived behind the bar in a nice home, whereas Wade’s house was older and was swamped by a large, unkempt garden out the front, weeds showing through the pathway, the front gate rusted open.

The three boys soon became inseparable, and a few weeks into their first semester at college, Vanessa decided a meet and greet with the parents was in order. So, she invited Joan Arden and Philippa, Wade’s mom, to coffee at her house. There was a knock at the door and Wren went to answer it. ‘Mom, Phillipa’s here.’ He showed her into the kitchen and introduced her to his mom.

‘Sorry about this, I had to bring the baby – I had no sitter.’

‘It’s OK,’ Vanessa said, touching the gurgling child. Joan didn’t arrive on time, then didn’t arrive at all, so Vanessa spent an awkward twenty minutes trying to make conversation with the woman who spoke in one-word answers. After a while, Vanessa gave up.

‘Do you have any questions for me, Phillipa?’ The woman looked shocked.

‘Um… no.’

Vanessa was a little taken aback that Phillipa had no questions for the woman whose house her son spent so much time at.

‘OK then,’ Vanessa said. ‘Thanks for coming round, it was nice to meet you.’

Phillipa picked up her keys, called for Wade, then left.

Vanessa pushed open the door to the bar, the cool air wafting round her ankles first, then making its way up and around her body like an insistent lover. She let her vision adjust to the dim interior. If she’d worked here, she’d always be squinting in the dark. She saw Mark wiping down tables, cleaning up spilled beer and restocking the peanuts. She ignored him, but she did notice him glare at her from the corner of her eye. She saw Joan sitting at one of the tables; Vanessa was nervous, but she felt a responsibility to Justin.

‘Joan, hi,’ she said. She looked up at Vanessa with a totally blank expression. ‘I’m Wren’s mom.’ Vanessa’s voice rose slightly at the end of her sentence.

‘Wren who?’

How many Wrens do you know?

‘Wren Sawyer. Your son Justin is his best friend, hangs out with him at our house all the time.’

‘Oh well, thanks for having him.’ She turned her eyes back to her paperwork, dismissing her.

‘I invited you and Wade’s mom Phillipa to have coffee at my house and you didn’t show. I wanted us all to get to know each other since our kids are spending so much time together.’

Joan gave Vanessa a withering stare, like she couldn’t care less that she missed the coffee date and wanted this conversation to be over so she could go back to her work.