His words and questions mirror those he asked me that night outside Pip’s Bar when he enquired about Matthew. I feel a little bit angry now when I see how different his life is and how indifferent to Matthew’s he is with his casual question, but this isn’t the time or the place to show it. Matthew certainly wasn’t OK back then three years ago when he first enquired of him. He was crippled with depression, living back at home in our family home with Mam and Dad, his dreams of becoming a star like Tom crushed into oblivion. He wasn’t OK then and now he is in a wheelchair trying to learn to walk again while he sings cover songs in tourist bars. I’m not sure there’s a straightforward answer to whether or not he is OK.

But once again, just like the night in Pip’s Bar, I won’t let my brother down.

‘Matthew is still as strong and resilient as ever,’ I say. ‘He’s made a new life for himself over on the west coast and he’s very happy. He’s determined to walk again and we all believe he will.’

I don’t honestly think Tom listened to even one word I just said.

I want to ask him for some time on our own, just so we can talk about … I feel tears sting my eyes again now that Matthew is in my head. I think of Jack and how strong a force we are as a family as we’ve worked so hard to get Matthew all the medical help we can find for him.

Actually, what on earth do I want to talk to Tom about? Another penny drops when I realize I know absolutely nothing about this man and he knows even less about me.

Would we talk about his family? I’ve never met any of them.

His music? I think I already can see how that’s all been going.

His love life? Again, that’s all pretty much right in my face when I see how he doesn’t really seem too bothered that he has a fiancée.

I don’t have anything to talk to him about. I don’t know him at all.

He’s been partying for days, he has a fiancée who is trying to keep up with him and evidently can’t, and it looks like I’m just one of many women from his past who came and left while he followed his dream and left a trail of broken hearts in his wake.

Then, just when I’m coming to my senses and realizing that he really couldn’t care less if I’m here or not, he reels me in with a statement that makes me very much the focus of everyone’s attention.