‘We’re going along fine,’ Lynda answered. ‘Come in. I’ll put the kettle on.’

Zara picked up the basket and followed the two women inside. ‘I’ll just check on Will,’ she said, leaving Kim and her mum to chat. Maybe her mum needed to talk to someone who wasn’t directly involved.

Slipping quietly into Will’s room, she checked his face and saw his eyes were closed. She was relieved to see the gentle rise and fall of his chest, then she shook her head crossly. She didn’t need to do what her mum did. She just needed to be here for him.

‘I know you’re there,’ Will said quietly.

‘So I am. Mum’s got a visitor.’

‘Who?’

‘Kim someone. Burrows?’

‘Oh, yeah. She’s a good chick.’

‘She brought food.’

Will smiled even though his eyes were still shut. ‘That’s what she’s known for. Feeding the sick, dying and those in need. I guess between all three of us, we fit the bill.’

Zara didn’t answer.

‘Do you remember when we were little, we’d go and stay with Gran and Pa over on their farm?’ Will asked.

‘That’s funny. I was only thinking about that today. I used to be scared a ghost would get me as I ran down the passage from the kitchen to the living room.’

Will gave a little laugh. ‘There weren’t any ghosts there, you big scaredy-cat.’

‘Tell that to a five-year-old with a good imagination!’

‘We did! Frequently. You never believed us.’

Zara let out a peal of laughter. It felt good. Will smiled a bit wider and opened his eyes.

‘Why did you bring that up?’ Zara asked.

‘Just been thinking about things. Our younger days, when you were a brat and I was the goody-two-shoes. How you used to be able to con Dad into anything but not Mum. Then how you looked after me when I was at boarding school in Adelaide. I don’t think I ever told you how much I appreciated that. All your visits and phone calls during the week. Crazy, considering you’re younger than me, but you took to it much better than I did.’ The anger he’d expressed earlier seemed to have dissipated and now he was reflective.

Zara shrugged. ‘I understood how you were feeling, even though I liked school and you didn’t. It was hard being away from Mum and Dad at that age. Trying to make new friends and fit into a place we didn’t understand. All those stupid rules about wearing ties to dinner and skirts to church.’

Will huffed a little. ‘It was the long socks with shorts that used to annoy me. I thought they were trying to turn us into toffee-nosed snobs.’

‘Never a chance of you being a snob. You’d talk to anyone anywhere.’

‘That’s what you should do.’ He was quiet for a minute, then he said, ‘You know there are good days and bad days with this stupid disease and today is a bad one. They’re not all like this, you know.’