‘You see a big house like this, Minnie, and you think people got it all. Sometimes it’s like too much icing on a cake – it’s covering over a crumby base that’s cracked down the middle.’

Minnie put her face into her palms and inhaled deeply. She couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mother’s mouth; this kind of empathy didn’t sound like her at all. How many times had they spoken? Minnie doubted Tara would have confided all this in a few phone calls. Clearly this dialogue with her mother had been going on a while.

‘Don’t you have a panic attack and all,’ said her mother with a sniff, pushing out her bottom lip defiantly.

There were footsteps on the stairs. They both turned to see Quinn come back through to the living room. He looked tired, deflated. He brushed a hand through his hair and leant a shoulder against the door frame.

‘Thank you for being here today,’ he said to Minnie’s mother. ‘She doesn’t have many people she’ll speak to, she doesn’t let anyone in. I hope today won’t – ’ he paused, looking for the right word – ‘put you off being in touch.’

Minnie’s mother blushed and then jutted out her chin. Minnie had never seen her blush in her life.

‘Takes a lot more than that to put me off.’

They all stood in silence for a moment until her mother said, ‘Right, best be off. Can’t stand around all day gassing. I’ll call to see how she is in the morning.’ She looked back and forth between Quinn and Minnie, gave Quinn a curt nod and then marched back towards the front door. ‘You make your own way home, Minnie, you’ll only slow me down with that ridiculous get-up you’re wearing.’ She gave Minnie a firm stare, as though trying to convey something with her eyes, though Minnie had no idea what it might be.

Once she had left, Minnie turned around to see Quinn standing next to her in the hall. He looked exhausted and forlorn.

‘Well, I’d better be off too,’ Minnie said, looking around for her purse and phone.

Quinn let out a deep, audible sigh. He put a hand across his chest and grasped his other shoulder.

‘Can I do anything?’ Minnie asked, nodding in the direction of the stairs.

‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ll just stay here until she wakes up. When she takes her medication, she comes around all groggy, forgets things. She’ll need me here.’

His gaze turned to the floor. Looking at him now, Minnie couldn’t be cross. Whatever awkwardness had passed between them, he was still a decent person dealing with a difficult situation.

‘Do you want some company?’ she asked quietly, her heart in her chest. Such an innocuous question, but she didn’t know if she could take the humiliation of being rejected again.