Photos pinned to the wall caught her attention. When she peered closer she saw Essie, younger and reclining on a picnic blanket, with a pen and pad by her elbow. She was laughing and had black winged eyeliner and orange lips. A photograph farther along showed her blowing out nineteen candles on a birthday cake. In another, she stood with a group of friends throwing their mortar board hats into the air. There was a prize day booklet with the university coat of arms—featuring a bee, perhaps to represent how hard the students worked. A mug on the side of the sink was printed with a bee, too.

It’s the emblem of a prestigious university, Liv realized. It could be the reason Anthony used a bee-printed handkerchief, and for the cuff links Essie commissioned for Grant.

Liv stared at all the photos. It was difficult to imagine Essie was ever that young. Had she lain on her bed in this room, scribbling in a notepad and listening to music with Anthony?

Her eyes settled on another shot. It didn’t seem to be of anything at first, a door opening onto a classroom. There was a desk, blackboard and a figure in the distance. Liv squinted closer and let out a short gasp when she saw it was her dad. Tears rushed down her face.

Another shot beside it was much clearer. Her dad lay on the grass using his hand as a visor against the sun. His lips curled into a smile. He looked so much younger than he did in her memories.

The grief of losing him could always knock her off her feet, like a freak wave on a sunny beach, and it came at her now and left her reeling.

Liv fell back onto the bed. It was lower than she expected so the back of her head smashed against the wall. She flailed like a beetle trying to right herself, and her leg became entangled with the bedcover. The futility of trying to get free made all the strength desert her body. Her limbs flopped, suddenly too cumbersome to move.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed there, her heart thumping and her legs leaden. Possibly hours. It was like being locked in a bad dream. She watched a fly jerking in a spider’s web on the ceiling, until it became still. Time and space faded away.

When she blinked and looked up, the sky was darkening and streetlights glowed amber outside. She heard doors slamming as students returned home for the day.

Jake called her phone and she let it ring, too upset to speak to him.

Slowly, she propped herself up on one elbow and caught sight of an envelope standing up against the kettle. Liv detached herself from the bedcover and forced herself to stand up.

Olivia Green.