‘You’re always in my thoughts, Aiden. That will never change.’ It’s true, but in my heart, I know something is different and I hope it’s only the distance between us.

‘You promise?’ His voice sounds uneven; maybe he’s missing home.

‘I promise. The trip to Thailand will be amazing. The project you’ve been involved in has been so worthwhile, but your time there is almost done. You made a difference, Aiden, and that’s something to be proud of, but now you should take a little time to chill out and relax. No pressures, just being a tourist, as if you’re on holiday.’

‘Hmm. But I’m not, because if I was, then you’d be by my side.’ His voice is tinged with regret. The death of that young boy has hit him hard.

‘Don’t get depressed over the things you can’t change, Aiden. You learnt that a long time ago, so try not to dwell on the negative. Life goes on no matter how tough some of the lessons are and you need to be strong to support the people who are grieving for their boy. They can’t give up and neither can you.’

He takes a noisy breath in. ‘Thanks, Fern. He just… I mean, he reminded me of a young Owen. You know, when we first met and he was – what – eleven years old? That big silly grin he wore most of the time because he was always fooling around and he was all legs and arms. You remember that phase?’

I smile to myself, nestling the phone between my cheek and my shoulder. ‘Oh, I do. Whenever you came to the house, he always wanted you to play football with him and we just wanted to slope off and have some quiet time together. And he was constantly hungry. Mum used to make you both her infamous toasted cheese sandwiches.’

Aiden chuckles. ‘Owen never said no to food, no matter what time of the day, or night, it was. In fact, I could murder one of your mum’s specials myself, right now.’

At least he sounds brighter and it’s a relief to know what was eating away at him.

‘I miss not having you there to ease the humps in my day. Does that sound selfish?’ he asks.

‘No. Of course not. That’s my job… well, not my job—’ I halt, mid flow.

‘I think you had it right first time. We’ve always been hard work, Fern – me, your family – but you always sorted us all out. I’m not sure I really appreciated how much effort that required. Losing your sister at a time when you should have been a new bride, enjoying the first days of happy married life. Adulthood has never been carefree for you, has it? Anyway, it’s something I won’t take for granted when we get back home.’