She had seen Elle’s green eyes flicker for a second, but then she shrugged. ‘I don’t really have time to be lonely either,’ and that had been the end of it. Elle could shut a conversation off rather like closing a door; in that way she was more like Ned than she suspected. Perhaps for that reason alone, their father’s withdrawn and sometimes aloof mannerisms never seemed to bother Elle in the slightest, whereas Penny would drive herself crazy trying to get her head around it, wondering why he always seemed so disconnected and distant. Although in truth, Ned always seemed to brighten when Elle was around; it was just Penny he seemed to stare straight through.

Her sister was due to arrive later this morning. But now with Anna gone and the family dynamic so utterly changed forever, Penny wondered how the Harte family would get through the next few days together.

Chapter 2

Elle was in shock. She knew it was true, but she refused to really believe it. She refused to really believe anything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Her sister hadn’t rung her in the early hours of this morning to tell her that their mother had collapsed of a heart attack, she hadn’t packed a suitcase of probably unsuitable clothes and booked a flight back to Dublin, she hadn’t taken a sleeping pill to get through the flight, and she certainly wasn’t in Dublin airport waiting in line for a taxi to take her home to Wexford.

If she wanted to wake up, if she wanted a dose of reality, all she had to do was look at her surroundings. There was a man in the queue behind her in a suit that smelt as though he’d been wearing it for days, in front of her a child held in its mother’s arms was steadfastly picking his nose and rolling the results between his fingers. She’d seen dedicated draughtsmen work with less concentration. Elle stood straighter in line and told herself to face reality. This was happening, wasn’t it? She took one deep breath after another and with each exhalation the news seemed to settle like dust over her heart. She was going home. For her mother’s funeral. Her father, as usual, would be quiet and emotionally out of reach, and her sister would be still resentful of Elle for leaving, though pretending not to be.

Try as she might, Elle knew she would not be able to communicate honestly to either of them, especially without Anna’s open and calming influence. Her mum could always make them all laugh when they were together at least. But Elle knew that the next week or so would be a mire of grief, things unsaid, memories left unshared, until she could go back to London and really let her feelings out in the privacy of her apartment.