‘Oh, Liv, emeralds and shooting stars?’ Maya knew exactly what those things meant to her. Shooting stars had been her and Rachel’s thing. Out here, in the darkness, it seemed that shooting stars marked some of the biggest moments of their lives together. Sometimes, Liv thought about that last time they’d been sitting out here late one summer evening. Rachel had finished every treatment she could possibly have and they knew it was only a matter of time. They’d bundled her up and lit a fire at the back of the house and they sat outside until the sky had grown black, like soft felt dotted with a million stars and then, as if performing a heavenly fireworks display for both of them, stars began to shoot across the sky. There were six in total. She’d thought about it so many times over the years. And sometimes, when she closed her eyes, she could feel her sister’s thin hand in hers, the hope that was still in her eyes to the very end. It was a crushing blow when she’d died, but somehow, every time Liv thought about that night it gave her a feeling of peace.

‘You see, he’s not as self-absorbed as you’ve always assumed.’ Liv was smiling; her happiness was a mixture of the memory of Rachel and the growing certainty of knowing that Eddie was finally going to propose.

‘Ah, that’s so lovely; perhaps I’ve misjudged him all this time,’ she said.

‘Honestly, Maya,’ Liv said now, standing back, holding her sister’s hands and looking into her eyes steadily. ‘He’s really much nicer than you think. Don’t judge him on today’s performance. When we’re in Dublin we’re quite content without his mother breathing down our necks. Sometimes, I think we’re like an old married couple already.’ She laughed at this because it was true: they’d slid into a routine years ago and a wedding would simply be making it official.

*

When Liv eventually arrived home, after waiting what seemed an age in the freezing cold for an empty bus, she pushed through the flat, flopped into bed and fell into a deep sleep that lasted until after six o’clock that evening. When she woke, darkness painted her bedroom window; the silence felt as if she might be the only person still left in Dublin, never mind on her own in her little flat. Hunger woke her in the end and she padded back through to the kitchen, noticing for the first time that Eddie had left the place looking like a tip again. Honestly, Liv could never get over the fact that anyone could just discard clothes and leave them where they landed. She gathered them up and plopped them into the laundry basket. She might as well put on a wash.