Sasha had thought he was on the mend now that he was getting help. She wanted to go after him, but didn’t want to leave the kids, and felt upset and annoyed. Kev clearly wasn’t back to his old self, not yet, and Angel was still recovering from her ordeal. They shouldn’t have come here. As bright and cheerful as the café was, they should have just gone for fish and chips.

Sasha impatiently stabbed a finger at the menu. ‘Just pick something!’

‘Can you imagine how calorific this food is!’ cried Angel.

‘Where’s Dad gone?’ said Denny again. ‘Can we go after him?’

‘Don’t worry about him,’ Sasha told him. ‘We’re here and we’re all going to enjoy ourselves.’

Denny waved the menu in her face. ‘There. Is. Nothing. I. Want.’

Sasha was ready to admit defeat and take them all home, order in a takeaway. She knew Angel and Denny would jump at the chance, but as soon as they got through the door they would find excuses to drift off to their rooms. Angel would sit on her phone, Denny would play a computer game, she would hear him yelling to his friends on his headphones, and Sasha would watch that new series on Netflix. Kev would come home in his own good time, and she’d try to talk to him then. He wasn’t well, she had to remember that, he needed time. But a moment later, her husband came back in the door with ice creams.

‘Budge up,’ he told Sasha. ‘These will keep us going!’

‘Yeah!’ said Denny, grabbing one. ‘That’s more like it!’

He handed around the cones and they all licked them, even Angel, who had forgotten to worry about how fattening it was.

‘Mmmm,’ said Denny, ‘this is sick.’

‘So here we are again,’ Kev said to Sasha.

‘Here we are again.’

Sasha surreptitiously tried to wipe away a tear crawling down her cheek.

‘Mum,’ said Denny, rolling his eyes. ‘Don’t embarrass us.’

She tried to laugh it away, but felt an ache in her chest at the thought of how close they had come to disaster. She had almost lost her daughter, and would never have been able to forgive herself.

‘I can’t help it.’ She laughed as she dabbed at her eyes. ‘I can’t believe we’re all here together… the four of us.’

‘The five of us,’ Angel told her. ‘Because Jake is here too.’

‘Yes, he is.’ Sasha looked around the table, at Denny and Angel and Kev, and was overwhelmed by the fierce love she felt for them all; it was like a physical pain. And for Jake, too, who would always be in their hearts. When Kev slipped his hand into hers, she was certain she was going to start ugly crying.

‘So,’ said Denny, ‘now we’ve done the family bonding bit, can I look at my phone?’