Ged kept his eyes on the screen; he was in no mood for a full-blown interrogation. ‘Fucking hell, Mam, he goes to the same school as me. I’ve already told you he’s sound. Why, is there a problem?’

‘No, stop being snappy. I just asked a simple question, that’s all. No need to speak to me like that, is there? And sort your language out, how many times have I told you about swearing?’

‘Wow, you always peck my head when I’ve just woken up. God, I had a friend stay over, it’s not a big deal.’

Clare steeled herself. She needed to know if her son was into lads. She needed to ask the question. Had to go for it.

‘Are you gay, Ged?’ she blurted out.

Ged turned his head slowly, as if he wasn’t sure what he’d just heard. ‘You what?’ She repeated herself and held her breath waiting for the answer with one hand held to her chest. She’d already decided she was going to be understanding, she was going to support him, she just needed to know.

Ged looked confused, then pissed off. ‘What the fuck, Mam? Have you really just asked me that?’

She sat up straight and put her hands on her knees. ‘Yes, well, I go into your bedroom and you’ve got a guy in your bed. You’ve never mentioned him before, so what am I supposed to think?’

Ged laughed. ‘OMG, you are off your napper, you, Mother. Frankie asked if he could stop over. It was late and we were chilling on the game. I like girls so stop thinking random shit like that about me. Wow, you need to get more sleep or something. Why on earth would you ever think I like guys, tapped you are, Mother.’

Clare gasped. ‘I’ve been out of my mind, I’ve even researching it online. I’ve been that stressed out I can tell you – I thought you were keeping secrets from me, that I didn’t even know my own boy. I don’t care if you’re gay, I just want you to be happy – but I want you to be able to share stuff with me, love.’

Ged laughed out loud and even Clare started to see the funny side of it.

‘You are on another planet, Mother. You come out with some shit sometimes you do.’ It was nice to see his mother laughing, she looked so pretty when she smiled. It was a shame she didn’t do it more often.

At that moment, Frankie walked into the room and nodded at Clare.

‘All right? Nice to meet you. I’m Frankie.’