Grady nodded. Over the other side of the room he could see Carola from The Angel marshalling a double row of people dressed in red tops and recognised the village singing group, the Middletones. They looked about to burst into song and there would probably be a collection after for the village hall or a Middledip kid who needed treatment. He suspected Carola may have been the inventor of crowdfunding.

‘Do you know how Laurel took it?’ Mac looked unsure if he actually wanted the answer. ‘Don’t suppose she said, “Wow, maybe he’s not so bad. I won’t glare daggers at him in future”?’

Grady shook his head. ‘She’d already refused to listen to your apology. You writing it down to force-feed it to her … If you’d asked me first, I would have advised against it.’ Nausea rolled over him. This was horrible, walking a tightrope between Mac and Laurel.

Mac frowned. ‘At school, apologising is seen as a good thing. It makes the individual face what they’ve done.’

‘It can also be perceived as allowing the perpetrator to feel better about themselves and their actions,’ Grady said carefully.

Mac looked green. ‘Like, cleaning my conscience so it’s nice and shiny? I didn’t mean it like that.’

Grady’s beer began to lose its appeal. ‘Do you have any kids that think they can do what they like so long as they say sorry nicely afterwards?’

‘Suppose so,’ Mac admitted reluctantly. Both knees were jiggling, now. He rubbed his hand over his mouth.

Across the pub, the Middletones burst into ‘Let it Snow’. A few people joined in the chorus and one of the darts players grumbled, ‘That lot put me off,’ when his dart missed the board. The excuse was greeted with a chorus of catcalls from the other players.

‘Tonya saw Laurel with the letter,’ Mac said shortly. ‘Came home near to tears, wanting to know what the hell was going on. I had to tell her something so I said I was apologising for standing by while Amie bullied Laurel. Tonya seems to have swallowed it but was really disappointed in me.’ He paused to finish his beer. ‘She accepts everyone does something shitty when they’re a teenager but writing to Laurel without confiding in her about it first, that seems to have really upset her. She accepts I’ve apologised and it’s up to Laurel now, but she says it’s caused a trust issue between us. She needs time off from me; hence the sudden visit to her family.’

Grady couldn’t hold back a snort. ‘With respect, Tonya’s not the victim here.’

Mac forehead crinkled miserably. ‘I know, but, fuck, Grady, she doesn’t know the whole truth. I couldn’t look into my wife’s eyes and admit what I did. She might never feel the same about me. And I’m not sure you ever will either, now you know,’ he added.