He did as she said, and she took the razor from his hand. She placed a finger under his chin and tilted his head back. The bare skin left behind by the blade was clean and pink like a baby’s.

“You know, I used to have a sister,” George said.

The surprise of his speaking, and what he said, made Joy pause the blade mid-stroke. “Did you?”

“Aye,” he said, his eyes distant. “She was a couple of years older than Tam. She was an awful nice girl.”

“What was her name?”

“Eva,” he said.

“What happened to her?”

“She ran away. At least, that’s what Da told us. It wasn’t long after our mother died. A few weeks, maybe. We came down to breakfast and she wasn’t there. Da told us she’d run off in the night. She was an awful nice girl.”

Joy said nothing, continuing to scrape the blade across his skin. She sensed he had more to tell her, but it was some time before George spoke again.

“There’s a place for sale.”

“Oh, aye? Where?”

“Waringstown. It’s not half the size of this place. But it’s big enough. Good fields. Good grazing. There’s a milking shed and all. I could raise cows for dairy instead of beef. It’s harder work, but still.”

“Can you afford it?” she asked.

“Aye. Well, I haven’t got the money myself. Da puts all our money away for us, me and Tam’s. I’ll have to ask him for it.”

Joy pulled the blade down from his jawline, feeling the resistance of the coarse hairs on his throat. “Can you not just take it?”

“It’s Da’s bank account. He’d have to take the money out and give it to me.”

“What if he says no?”

“He can’t,” George said, his voice thinning with uncertainty. “It’s my money. He’s just been saving it up for me.”

“Aye,” Joy said. She rinsed the blade in the water then brought it back to his throat. “It’s your money. He can’t keep it from you. Sure, that would be like stealing it from you. He wouldn’t steal money from his own son, would he?”

“No. No, he wouldn’t. Not my da. That doesn’t matter yet, anyway. I have to make an offer on the place and see if they’ll accept it. No point talking about getting the money till I’ve made a deal.”

“When are you going to do that?”

“Today,” he said, as if the decision had been made in that moment. “I’ll take the car and go and see about it today. The estate agent’s in Portadown. I’ll go over and see them today. Aye, that’s what I’ll do.”

“That’s a good idea,” Joy said, “but, here.”

“What?”