This was never something he told her to do, as far as she can remember. She tries to stop herself from crying, tracing a piece of toast on her fork around the geometric pattern on her plate. ‘No.’ She sniffs. ‘You never said anything. Can I go round there?’ She hates the way her voice whines like this; she sounds so young.

He gets up, gives her a hug and then goes back to his plate. ‘Jameson. Stop begging. Lauren, come on now. No. Give them a phone. She can come here.’ He begins to play ‘The Mountains Of Mourne’. So I’ll wait for the wild rose that’s waiting for me.

‘When will you be back?’ She had thought she was going to confront him, but he has managed to slip away, again.

He stretches. ‘Need to get my capo.’ He stands up to retrieve the guitar clip. ‘Early enough. Maybe eleven.’

She knows he will be closer to four in the morning.

7

Lauren is opening a packet of Monster Munch when she sees Jenny standing in the playground. The neat primary school sits on the top of a hill built in Victorian sandstone, with high square classrooms, separate entrances for boys and girls, and a large brass bell in an arch on top of the slate roof. There are only a few houses to each side and bare playing fields stretching to the woods. The wind is rattling the flagpole. Skinny boys play football. A haar is coming in from the coast.

‘Jenny?’

‘Yes?’

‘Do you want a crisp?’

‘Cheers.’ Jenny takes one and crunches it. Her lip gloss catches some of the crumbs.

Lauren tightens her ponytail. ‘Will you tell me a ghost story?’

Jenny shakes her head.

‘Why not?’

‘I told you yesterday.’ Jenny cocks her head to one side.

‘What did you mean, though?’

‘I don’t want to make you upset.’

Lauren looks down at the black tarmac. A chocolate wrapper blows past them. ‘I’m not upset about … that.’ She tries to sound as though she knows exactly what Jenny is referring to.

‘It made your dad really sad. My mum said he wasn’t seen in town for weeks after.’

‘Just tell me? I’ll read your palm.’

Children race around them shrieking in the playground, echoing in and out of the square concrete shelters in the centre.