‘Quinn’s on his way, he’ll be here soon.’ Minnie gently squeezed her arm. Tara took a rapid panting intake of air, juddering like a breathy machine gun. ‘OK, just breathe, Tara. Look at me now.’ Tara uncovered her eyes, blinking at Minnie. She squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Just breathe with me.’

‘I’ve done all this,’ muttered Minnie’s mother.

Minnie exhaled slowly and then inhaled loudly through her nose. Gradually Tara started to focus on Minnie, to replicate her breathing pattern.

‘There you go, perfect, just in and out,’ said Minnie’s mother, then in a different tone of voice, ‘hello.’

Minnie turned to see Quinn standing in the doorway, watching her. He was stock-still, a strange look in his eyes. Minnie smiled up at him – it was a reflex, like a sunflower opening towards the sun. Then she remembered the zoo, the rejection, the fact he hadn’t called her since that day, and she reined it in, turning it into a more perfunctory greeting – a small nod of the head.

Quinn watched her face change and the look in his eyes disappeared. He stepped forward and bent down to his mother, Minnie stood up and shuffled backwards out of the way. Quinn looked her up and down with a quizzical ‘what the hell are you wearing?’ expression, then moved to take her place where she had been crouching next to Tara. He patted his mother’s hand, a precise, rhythmic patting, as though communicating some code. Minnie turned to see Tara’s head relax back on the pillow, her hand folding around Quinn’s.

‘Did she take something?’ Quinn asked, turning between Minnie and her mother.

‘Two of these,’ said Minnie’s mother, stepping forward to hand Quinn a brown pill tube. ‘I wanted to call an ambulance but she was very insistent.’

Minnie’s mother knitted her hands together, twirling her thumbs around each other.

‘It’s OK, you did the right thing,’ said Quinn. ‘Thank you for being here, Connie. I know how much Mum’s enjoyed talking to you these last few months. It will have meant so much to her that you came.’

Minnie looked over at her mother in confusion. Her mother had been talking to Tara for months? Why hadn’t she said anything? Her mother prickled uncomfortably, glancing at Minnie and then rubbing the back of her neck with a hand.

‘I’m going to take Mum upstairs,’ said Quinn.

Minnie nodded. She watched as Quinn gently propped one of Tara’s arms over his shoulder and lifted her from the couch as though she weighed no more than a child. Watching him pick her up sent a spark of memory through Minnie’s mind; that day at the pool – his dripping wet torso. She chastised herself; this wasn’t the time to be mentally undressing the man!

‘Don’t leave. I’ll come back down,’ Quinn said to Minnie as he carried his mother towards the stairs.