It had meant more to Holly than she realised at the time, being told first – she hadn’t appreciated it fully because she’d expected it. It’s easy to be there for someone when they want you to be there for them. Easy to be your favourite’s favourite.

But now, she didn’t know what to do when her outstretched arms were ignored.

‘I thought she might like some tea,’ Holly said, looking to Daphne for confirmation.

Daphne shrugged, dry-eyed. ‘She’s not come out for hours. Enough is enough.’

‘What?’

‘I’ll just go in.’

‘Wait, Daphne.’ Holly blocked the door. It would be too much of an intrusion. Rosie knew they were here if she wanted them – she’d find her way back to her nana’s arms when she was ready. ‘She’s doing something, listen.’

Daphne put her ear to the door, then stepped back, shaking her head.

‘She’s wearing her headphones,’ she said, and with that she pushed the door open and strode in.

Holly stood back, lingering in the doorway. She wondered if there’d be an argument now – mother and daughter were so different. Daphne sat down on the bed, next to Rosie. Her back was straight where Rosie’s was hunched, her expression calm where Rosie’s was lost. She pressed stop on the screen that was held in Rosie’s hands, and Rosie didn’t resist – she just pulled the headphones from her ears.

‘Oh, Mum,’ she said. Her lower lip wobbled the way it had done when she was a child and Holly felt the same sensation that she’d felt in that hospital room. She leaned on the door frame as Rosie crumpled into her mother’s arms.

She was trying to say something through the sobs, but Holly couldn’t hear the words. Daphne gave her a slight nod, as if to say, I’ve got this. You can go. But Holly had no intention of going.

‘I think …’ Rosie stammered. She was trying to stop crying. Holly knew that moment, when you’ve had enough but your body hasn’t caught up yet and you can’t stop the sobs. She wanted to join the hug on the bed.

‘I think it was … I think it was my fault,’ Rosie managed, very quietly, the words separated with deep breaths.

Holly held on to the door.

‘It was no one’s fault,’ Daphne said as she rocked Rosie back and forth in her arms. ‘Shhh, sweetheart. It was no one’s fault, I promise you that. Especially not yours.’

Holly took a step back.

A chill was passing through her body, she could feel it snaking down her spine. That woman who had arrived this morning, who had wanted to talk to Rosie and Kaz in private, she’d said in private, what was it about their conversation that had to be hidden from Holly herself?