‘Hey! Casey!’

She looks up and grins and I wonder who is behind me. No one. It’s me she’s grinning at.

She holds up her hand for a high five. But I don’t want to high-five. I want to hug her. As I approach, my arms wide, her eyes are wary and I almost chicken out, but I whisper, ‘Is it OK for me to do this?’ and Casey nods, and for the first time since we met on Sunday, I am hugging my daughter. Her hair – no, her wig – smells of baby shampoo and her arms only just reach around my back, but she holds on tight. ‘Is this awkward?’ I check.

‘A bit. But nice too. Though I’m getting cramp in my leg, so I’m going to let go now.’

When we part, I spot that woman – Gemma – staring through the window. I smile, but she doesn’t smile back.

‘I can’t believe you came!’ Casey says, but then she puts her hand to her mouth. ‘Is Mum OK? Has something bad happened?’

‘No, everything is fine. After what you said yesterday about me not coming here, I asked your mum if I could come instead of her. But then I got lost.’

Casey is waiting for me to explain how I got lost in my home city, or why I didn’t leave enough time. I need a good excuse . . .

Gemma’s still staring at me through the glass. I never normally tell people the truth, but when I risked telling her, it helped. So could I try the same with Casey?

‘OK, the thing is, I’m nervous about hospitals. So when I said before that I couldn’t come during the day because of work, it was an excuse. I’m sorry. I know it sounds wimpy.’

Casey seems to be weighing it up. ‘Not really. Loads of people are phobic about hospitals, especially old people.’

‘Oh. Right.’

‘But you shouldn’t worry. I don’t like some of my actual treatments, but everyone here is so nice.’

The matter-of-fact way she talks makes me speechless. When I look back up, Gemma has gone.

‘I could give you a tour,’ Casey suggests. ‘Things are never as scary in real life as you think they’re going to be.’

Did you make her this brave, Angelica, or was she born this way?

‘That could be good,’ I say, even though my head’s pounding and my ears are buzzing already.

‘So this is the newest hospital in the whole country, which is why it’s so cool! We’re in the atrium – and that’s the coffee cart, which you have to pay for. You can get free tea and coffee in the patient lounges, but me and Mum have worked out that the cappuccinos from the cart taste much nicer.’

‘OK.’

‘Out there is the garden area, which is good when you want fresh air if you’re waiting for treatment or a scan. And up there,’ she points at the glass roof, ‘that’s a sculpture they had specially made for the new unit. Can you tell what it is?’