‘They’ll do you good,’ Naomi says without looking up from where she is expertly wrapping a gauzy bandage around my foot. ‘Let me know if this is too tight.’

I try to flex my foot, wincing again as the sharp pain shoots across my ankle. ‘It’s fine,’ I say, feeling it throb beneath the gauze.

‘Hand me those tablets if you’re done with them.’ Naomi gets to her feet and holds out a hand. I slip my fingers down between the sofa cushions and hand them to her, feeling like a scolded child. ‘I don’t want you to forget about them, Mina could get hold of them. I’ll put this stuff away and make us some tea, OK? And then we can talk.’

‘Don’t you need to get back to the shop?’

‘Evie is in charge; I don’t have to hurry back.’ Naomi smiles, ‘I’m hardly going to rush away and leave you in this state, am I? I wouldn’t be a very good friend.’

I muster a smile as she heads out to the kitchen, feeling like a pretty shitty friend myself.

‘Here you go.’ I take the steaming mug of tea that Naomi holds out to me, shifting Mina from where she lies awkwardly against my ribs. ‘Here, Mina, come and sit with me.’ Naomi pats the armchair she now sits in and Mina scrambles from the sofa, jabbing me hard in the stomach as she does. She climbs onto Naomi’s lap as Naomi gives her an indulgent smile, tucking her arm around her. They look the perfect picture of mother and child and I blink, looking away.

‘So,’ Naomi says, ‘do you want to tell me what happened this morning?’

‘I’m sorry I shouted at you.’ My cheeks flush at the memory of the way I lost my temper, although I am not entirely sorry. Remembering Naomi sat next to Rav in the pub, a little flare of anger pops in my belly. It is on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I saw them, to demand that she explain herself, but this isn’t the right time. ‘I thought someone was out there and after finding the bones, I thought someone had taken him, taken Mina.’ I thought Agnes had reached out with one hand, pulling Mina in close, a replacement for her own lost baby.

‘It’s all right, Allie, I would have freaked out too. If it had been my baby.’ An expression, something heartbreakingly close to pain crosses Naomi’s face and I feel my gut twist.

‘I just panicked, I guess. I was expecting him to be in the cot.’

‘Sorry.’ Naomi looks down, sheepish, before changing the subject back to the reason why I called her. ‘Tell me what happened this morning, Al. You sounded terrified on the phone.’