‘Jason wants to see Kayleigh,’ she says, splashing as she clumps through puddles.

‘He knows where to find her, doesn’t he?’ I say, shivering as water seeps into my shoes. I don’t have those big chunky boots like her. Not yet, anyway. She looks all black and yellow in the light from the lamppost overhead as she waits for me to catch up.

‘I told him we’d bring her in,’ she says, lighter flaring as she sparks another tab. ‘I know that’s what he wants. Can’t hurt, can it? Loads of army families do visits all the time. That’s all this is. He said so, anyway. It’s just a visit. That’s all.’

I reach out to the lamppost as my legs go weak and tingly. I should have worn tights, I think, even though I know it wouldn’t have made the tiniest bit of difference. Shivers move down my back as I fumble with the post. She won’t look at me as she exhales, smoke funnelling between us.157

Maybe this is the line between two worlds, I think, swaying on my feet. She’s in the one where everything makes perfect sense. But over here, where I am, nothing about this makes sense at all. Time slows as I stare at her, looking down her nose at me like I’m a child on her elbow.

‘He just wants us to bring her to the barracks, Carls. What’s the big deal?’

I jump as she yanks her arm out of my hand. Was I tugging at it? She swears, eyes darting and hand shaking as she lifts her tab to her mouth.

‘He’s her brother too, isn’t he? She’s family. It’s still warm and fuzzy even if she’s got a different dad … Nothing weird about that, is there?’ She pulls harder on her tab. ‘He said we owe them a visit, after everything that’s happened. We owe them. Not the other way around.’ Smoke pours from her nostrils as she purses her lips.

I gape at her, like we’re the only people in a street full of crowds.

‘They just got back,’ she says, blinking hard. Could it be tears? I search her face. ‘It was fucking awful, the worst yet, he said. It’s times like this family really matters.’

I lean my whole body against the lamppost, lolling my forehead on to the ridges of cold steel. A bus clatters past, the posters plastered on either side screaming at me: Your Army Needs You.