Kevin ruffled his son’s hair and sat back down. He was happy now, never took his eyes off Ged. ‘You look the business, mate, you’re really filling out. You’ve gone taller too. I’ll have to watch myself now, you’ll be knocking me out if I give you any shit, won’t you?’ Ged threw his head back and laughed out loud. His dad was proud of him and that was all he wanted.

Ged was excited to tell his dad about his new best friend. ‘His name’s Frankie. He goes to my school and we watch out for each other. He’s a top lad and you should see him on FIFA, he’s mint.’

‘Good lad, keep him onside, make sure he don’t let any pricks fuck with my boy. I worry about you all the time. The world is getting worse every day that passes – you need to be able to look after yourself. I’ll be home soon and then I can do the job myself, but it’s good to have a mate who’s got your back. Tell me about school. Been in any trouble?’ Ged felt his cheeks redden. He didn’t say anything. Kevin chuckled. ‘Take after your old dad, do you? I used to go from zero to sixty in seconds, but I’ve had some anger management sessions in here so hopefully I can control my shit when I get rattled in the future.’ He changed the subject quickly; he hated talking about his mental health. ‘How’s your mam, is she still saying she hates me or what?’

‘Dad, you know what she’s like, one minute she hates you but then she’s telling me stories about you. Just give her time and she’ll come round. You two need to sort your shit out together, it’s not up to me to do it.’

‘What I need to know is, do you think she’ll let me move back in?’

Ged laughed. ‘Bit of a big ask, Dad, but let’s see.’

Kevin looked around the room. His voice was soft and his eyes filled up as he reached over and touched Ged’s hands. ‘I’ve had enough of jail, son. I’m getting too old for all this shit now. I want to go straight and settle down and get a job. You have so much time on your hands in this shit-hole to think about stuff. You can put the world to rights when you’re behind your door each day, let me tell you. You can see everything that matters, I mean really matters.’