But he knew her instantly. She didn’t look that much older, and although something about her manner said she wasn’t the girl who had fled this house years ago, he knew her. And in that moment, it felt as if not a thread of time had elapsed since they’d last met. Seeing her, the responsibility briefly slipped from his shoulders, falling to the floor along with the years that had passed, as he felt himself becoming her little brother again. He wanted to embrace her, but his pride stood like a glass wall between them. He stepped back. ‘Have you seen Baba?’ he said.

She shook her head. ‘You’ve lost weight. You look like a man.’

Benyamin straightened up.

‘I am a man,’ he said. He had enough attention from both sexes to know he was no longer the overweight kid he used to be. His baby fat had been replaced by muscle; his chest was wide and his eyes proud, but something in them told Jia that that pride was not whole. Her little brother had grown up and his aura was hard and cold, tinged with self-preservation. But in spite of all that, to Jia he was still the same little boy who wanted to eat ice-cream sandwiches and kebab-topped bagels every day, the one wiping dripping ketchup from the side of his mouth.

‘Don’t say anything stupid to Mama,’ he said. ‘She’s old now, she can’t handle your stuff any more.’

‘Benny, I’m here for the wedding. Maria asked me.’

‘You know how you get. Just leave it alone, OK?’ He was picking a fight with her the way one picks a scab. He didn’t really want it to bleed, he just wanted to know what was under it. She didn’t reply, and it pissed him off even more. ‘Just do what you want and leave. You do anyway.’

She reached out to touch him but he turned away, and reflected in his eyes, for the first time, she saw what she had done. The walls that she had built to protect herself had left those more vulnerable than her on the outside. In taking care of herself she had forgotten those for whom she was responsible. Benyamin was holding on to his anger; it had started to define him. She had done that to him and it hurt her a little to know he was right. Unable to stay in her presence, he walked out of the French windows and into the garden.