Beau drinks most of his apple juice in one go, then wipes his arm across his mouth.

‘Go play,’ Maria says to him. Beau shakes his head. ‘Go on,’ she says, gentle but firm.

‘Why don’t you take him out to the trampoline, Charlie?’ Dad says. ‘Seems like that might be of some interest.’

‘Yes please.’ Beau slides off the stool.

‘Hold it till I come back. I need to hear this, too,’ I say to Maria. Why would she be here after Finn told me, just last night, to stay away from his commune – and, by obvious extension, Beau? Maybe she’s been sent to hit us up for money.

I come around the bench and touch Beau lightly on the head. ‘You have your mother’s hair. Bet you hear that a lot.’

The instant the words leave my mouth I stop – stop moving, stop breathing. Then I suddenly suck in air, as though my body wants to vacuum the words right back inside me. Beau has gone outside, is on the trampoline. I flick my eyes to my father.

‘How do you know what Skye’s hair looked like?’ Dad says.

‘A photo,’ I say. My heart beats double time.

‘You’ve got a photo of Skye?’ Maria takes an apple from the fruit bowl.

‘There are no photos,’ my father says. His voice is a low rumble. ‘How do you know what her hair looked like?’

I stand in the doorway, frozen.

‘Can we talk about her son please? I don’t have all day,’ Maria says, polishing the apple on her shirt. ‘She did have good hair, though.’

Surely Dad won’t press the issue in front of Maria.

‘Things are going down at the commune,’ she says. ‘Finn wants Beau to be somewhere else for a while. Not today, but soon. We figured since you were so desperate to have him he could stay here, have your daughter take care of him. He said the way Charlie described her last night made her sound super straight. And that’s what Beau needs, until we get ourselves sorted again. He wanted me to check the house though, make sure it was a legit family place.’ She points her apple at me. ‘But your stuck-up friends Ryan and . . . whoever his bitch girlfriend is . . . you can’t say anything to them. I don’t trust them to stay quiet. That’s not from Finn, that’s from me, okay?’

Dad hasn’t taken his eyes off me. Maria seems blind to what’s happening in front of her. She eats her apple, watches Beau through the glass. I hear the squeak of trampoline springs, and Woof barking encouragement.

‘So,’ she says, ‘the house looks like a house should. I’ll tell Finn it’ll do.’

Dad turns his glare on Maria. ‘Is this some game, some trap you and Finn have cooked up? Drop the boy here then call the police and say we took him?’

‘No. We want to find Beau a safe place away from the –’ She frowns. ‘Look, shit’s about to get too heavy to have the kids around. Finn’s not the world’s best father but he doesn’t want Beau getting hurt.’ She stands up. ‘Maybe this was a mistake. He thought you’d be pleased about it.’