As the front door opens, the barking of the dog amplifies within the communal corridor. Jess and Izzy hesitate and briefly peer between cement walls painted yellow before falling into a quick step towards the staircase.

3

With the finality of a prison gate, the thick security door of the block’s main entrance slams behind Jess and Izzy, shudders in the frame, then locks with a click.

‘Daddy!’ Izzy bursts into a run, her rucksack slapping and bunches flying.

Startled, Jess jerks around – the very word ‘Daddy’ triggering a reaction that most would read as panic if they were to look into her eyes. A response she stifles. Face hardening, she’s powerless to do anything but watch Tony spread his arms as Izzy ploughs into him and buries her face in her father’s stomach. Staggering backwards to exaggerate the impact of the collision, Tony laughs. Blue plastic bags, looped from each of Tony’s hands, sway like bells.

‘You in the school rugby team? Blimey, you pack a punch. You grow an inch every day I’m away, kitten.’ Tony kneels and, closing his eyes, folds around his daughter, kissing the top of her head.

Izzy pulls back and eyes the bags hanging from her father’s wrists. Her smile grows coy. ‘What’s that? Something for me?’

Warily, Jess closes on them. ‘Izz. We’re late.’

Tony and Izzy ignore her. Tony rummages inside the bag and produces a bag of crisps. Izzy seizes them. He whips out a chocolate bar, followed by a bag of jellies, a deli wrap, an apple. Izzy laughs, her little hands snatching.

‘Keep you goin’, eh? Make you even more beautiful. Specially that apple. Snow White apple. Red like you love.’

Jess sighs but seems ready to scream. ‘It ain’t . . . Tone. You can’t just . . .’

Tony kisses Izzy on top of the head producing a loud smacking noise. He points to the car behind him. ‘Go have a look inside, Izz. In the back. Fixed it. Like new.’

Izzy runs to the car and peers through the rear window. ‘My bike! Mummy, my bike!’

Tony turns to Jess. ‘Sorry, luv. I know. I know. I shouldn’t have come but it breaks my heart if I go a day without her.’

‘It’s hard. But they said—’

‘I know. Gotta be another way, though. It’s all I think of.’

‘I gotta get on. Work.’

‘You carry on. I’ll drop Izz at school. No strings. Least I’ll get to see her for a bit.’

It’s the first time that morning that Jess has seen her daughter’s face split by a smile, though her only child’s happiness fails to revive similar feelings in her.

‘Yes, Mum. Yes, Mum. I want to go in Daddy’s car!’

Tony grins, sheepish. ‘It’ll make my whole day.’

Jess’s grim smile battles irritation. She manages to nod at her ecstatic daughter.