Tina sat facing Clare and passed her some tissues; she was sobbing now. She lifted her head up and looked at Tina directly. ‘I love Ged with all my heart, but I can’t cope with him anymore. He’s started coming home at all hours and some nights he doesn’t even bother coming in at all. My nerves are shattered with him. I keep thinking I’ll get a knock at the door telling me he’s been found dead in some alleyway or something. The streets are dangerous, and I don’t want him getting mixed up with the wrong kind of people. His dad was the same; he was a follower and look what happened to him. I don’t want that for my Ged. I want him to get a good job and make something of himself. I don’t want him ending up in jail.’

Tina was sympathetic. God knows she knew how hard bringing up a teenager up could be. ‘I agree with you. Ged’s got so much going for him. Like I said, he’s doing OK and if he gets his head down, he will get decent results. Do you think a lot of this anger is to do with his dad? I know it’s hard to admit, but sometimes we have to let our children see for themselves what the other parent is really like.’

If only she could have followed her own advice, Tina thought. Maybe it was time to take the gloves off and encourage Nevaya to have a proper relationship with her birth mother. Maybe then she’d see what she was like with her own two eyes and then it could be put to bed once and for all.

Clare dabbed the crumpled white tissue into the corner of her eyes. ‘Kevin is out of jail next week and I’m scared to death of what will happen. Ged loves his dad, but he doesn’t know him like I do. He’ll let him down, he always does.’

Sometimes silence was for the best. Tina knew the value of that bit of thinking time that slows the heartbeat down and lets people gather their thoughts together. Clare had clearly been struggling with all this for days, maybe weeks, and now that she’d got it out, she would feel that maybe something could change. Mothers who came into school were usually like that; they’d shout and scream but after they’d said their piece and felt like someone had actually listened to them, they’d start to calm down. Tina had seen this situation time and time again. The kids were growing up, finding their own paths in life. It was scary for them too, hormones flying all over the place, they didn’t know if they were coming or going either.