‘I guess that means you want to keep us around then?’

I heard a minuscule crack in Wolfie’s voice and thought, Ah, there she is. The sassy, hard-to-read girl with the sharpest tongue in the west. Fierce protector of mothers, good friend to small boys and big dogs. The girl who needs words in the sky to keep her feet on the ground. Who wrote a letter to a man she thinks is a hero.

I swallowed down the lump that had instantly formed in my throat, but before I could answer, Wolfie grabbed my arm and squeezed. Not gently.

‘I knew, Danny. About Lou’s accident.’ Jaz swung the cab into Dom’s driveway, and even as we jolted over the kerb Wolfie didn’t take her eyes off me. But it wasn’t that intense, unreadable stare I’d got quite used to; it was clear and open with a touch of something else I couldn’t name.

‘I mean, not for sure. But I think when . . . when I heard—’ She shrugged; such a teenage shrug, designed to cover everything. ‘What I’m saying is, it isn’t your fault I found out. I guess I just couldn’t believe you were the one she told.’

Jaz cut the engine and the world went quiet. Wolfie pushed her fringe out of her eyes and smiled at me. ‘But it’s OK. I get it. She was just keeping you close. Because you’re our family.’

I recognised it then, that something else in my niece’s face, and it kind of took my breath away. It was trust. And it was love.

I was still recovering when Jaz stepped out of the cab, and as Wolfie reached for the door handle she put her hand up in a stop motion. ‘Hold it right there. I told you, you guys are getting the full VIP treatment.’

Jaz opened the cab door with a flourish at the same time Dom appeared on the doorstep, peering into the dull dusk light. When he saw Wolfie get out, even from a distance I could see the relief on his face. But what I really clocked was his total lack of surprise when I stepped out behind her. He just smiled the smile he uses on George when he does something really clever and jammy, and very slowly shook his head. I was happy to take it.

‘Wolfiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee!’ George’s feet almost left flames on the driveway as he tore out from behind Dom and ran towards us. He came to a screeching halt about a metre away from Wolfie, embarrassed at the last minute, unsure what to do next. Bless you, Georgie. Never a fool if it’s love.

Wolfie did a little skip towards him, scooped him up and swung him around.

‘Hiya, Georgie, what’s cookin’?’ His face.

I told Jaz to rack it up and tapped the card machine for the last time. ‘Righto, there you go, that’s the last forty-two quid, rounded up to fifty because you’re a bloody good egg.’ The goodest of good, I suspected. Say what you mean and mean what you say.