‘Can I stay with you for a while, Lil?’ Oli wipes her nose, which has started to run. Sniffs. Tries to hold it together. Fails.

‘You want to come stay at our place?’ Lily asks, unable to hide her surprise.

‘Yes,’ Oli whispers.

Lily talks so fast her words tumble over each other. ‘Of course, that is totally, absolutely fine. Yes, definitely.’ She takes a breath. Pauses. ‘You can stay with us for as long as you want.’

‘Are you sure Shaun won’t mind?’

‘I don’t give a shit if he does mind.’

Oli laughs through her tears. ‘Thank you,’ she whispers. She reaches the familiar curve of the road. She’s almost at Dean’s house. Her house. A muffled whimper escapes her mouth, and she bites the side of her knuckle.

‘Oli, what is it? Please talk to me.’

She gulps in some air and forces herself to focus. ‘I’m okay. I just need time to think, and there’re a few things I need to do. I’ll be at yours later.’

The sisters hang up. Oli pulls into Survey Drive and presses the button on the front-gate remote. ‘Come on, come on,’ she whispers. God, it’s so slow. She puts her foot down and jerks the Toyota through the narrow gap while the doors are still opening, parking on an angle in front of the garage. The house looms over her, the cream façade looking dirty in the fading light.

The moment she gets out of the car, it starts to rain. Giant drops fall from the sky and splatter messily on the driveway. She stands smoking on the front porch as she stares into the downpour. The light is on upstairs at Toni’s house, and Oli wonders what she’s doing. She allows herself to admit that something probably happened between Toni and Dean after Isabelle died. Oli sucks hard on the cigarette, smoke filling her lungs. Maybe something happened between them when Isabelle was alive. Hell, maybe it’s still happening.