“Sean’s here. Back at his old house. Dad wants me to try to get him to visit.” I pause. “And maybe seeing him—seeing Dean House again, walking past the woods, maybe it’ll trigger another memory. I don’t want to. I want to run as far away in the other direction as possible. But I think I need to, Soph, if I ever want to move on and not pass out every time I come near the place.”

Sophie’s turn to sigh. “I guess. But…”

“What? Say it. Whatever you’re thinking.”

“I’m worried. You have so much going on—with Julia, with school. God, Tess, I know you’re determined to tough it out, but maybe one step at a time, yeah?”

“But Julia wants to see Sean and Dad’s asked me if I’ll talk to him.” I sit upright. “I’ll sort it out, though. And it’ll serve Sean right if I puke all over him. Don’t worry about me.”

“Can’t help it. That’s my job as chief best friend.”

I laugh. “I have to go.”

“Okay, babes. Call me tomorrow, okay? Let me know how it’s going.”

I hear a noise as I end the call and get up with a frown. Lena’s standing outside the door. She’s wearing the same clothes as last night and looks like she slept about as much as I did.

“Sorry,” she says. “I could hear you on the phone and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Were you listening?”

Lena raises her eyebrows and ducks round me. “Um—no. Why would I? I just need to get something.”

How long was she standing there? She might not have meant to, but she would have heard every word.

I rub my eyes, heavy-headed and groggy. “Where’s Max?” I ask. I wanted to take Max with me to talk to Sean. They’re still friends; surely he’ll be more persuasive than me face-to-face, even if Sean told him to eff off on the phone?

Lena rolls her eyes, pulling creased clothes out of her bag. “Oh, he dashed off at seven for some emergency meeting.”

“On a Saturday?”

She shrugs. “Don’t ask me. It’s bad enough I couldn’t sleep and was up before the bloody sun rose. I was not conscious enough to ask questions.”

“When will he be back?”

She shrugs, pulling her T-shirt over her head. “Hopefully in time for me not to have to get the train back tomorrow. He’s not gone far—it’s some project of theirs near Cardiff.” She finishes changing and smiles at me. “What, you thought Mr. Ambitious had dropped everything to rush to Julia’s side? It was good timing, was how he put it. He gets to put the whole weekend on expenses.”

“Good timing? Julia dying is good timing?”

She winces. “I don’t think that was what he meant exactly.”