Jackson jumps to Greg’s defence. ‘Mum! Why are you attacking Dad? It’s not his fault he had to work. He saves people’s lives. It’s important.’

Holly feels like a scolded child. She stays silent, concentrating on the road ahead. It’s raining now, but so lightly that the wipers make that annoying squeaking sound as they scrape across the windscreen.

‘None of this is his fault anyway – you’re the one who left him.’

This isn’t the first time Jackson has thrown something like this her way and, as much as it hurts, she always rises above it, telling herself that the choices she made were to protect him. But tonight, something snaps. She can’t do it any more. None of it is worth it and it’s damaging her relationship with her son. She’s dealing with those tricky teenage years now.

She swerves the car into a lay-by, ignoring the angry blasts of car horns behind her.

‘We need to talk, Jackson, right now. Get in the front, please.’

Obediently, he climbs over and sits beside her. ‘Mum, you’re scaring me, what is it?’

She pauses, takes a moment to look at him and take in his features. Somehow, she knows that nothing will be the same once she’s told him. ‘You need to know the truth. I didn’t leave your dad. He left me. He was… having an affair.’ She turns to her son. ‘Do you know what that means?’

He wrinkles his face. ‘Yeah, I’m not stupid. But you said—’

‘I know what I told you. What we both told you. It was wrong to lie to you, and I’m not proud of what I did, but I made your dad tell people I was the one who left him. I told him to tell everyone it was because I didn’t love him any more.’ She looks at him, tries to read what’s going through his mind. Of course, that’s impossible. ‘He had no choice but to go along with this story.’

Jackson huddles against the car door, folding his arms around his body. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I wanted to wait until you were older to tell you all this because you’re still so young, Jackson, but… the woman your dad was sleeping with was a patient of his. They would see each other at the hospital and doctors aren’t supposed to do things like that. It’s not right. So if people had found out, then your dad might have lost his job. It definitely would have affected his career. She was young, too. Twenty-one or twenty-two.’

Jackson screws up his face. ‘That’s disgusting. Why would he do that?’