Her breathing quickened as the memories washed over her. Whenever Callum had accused Suzie of doing something, it was only Joyce who had stuck up for her, told him to leave her alone and to stop being a bully. She would then take Suzie to one side, wiping away her tears and telling her that it wasn’t Suzie that was in the wrong, but her father, and to ignore him. But after Joyce left all that had stopped, and it seemed to Suzie that she had taken her mother’s place, always bearing the brunt of the blame for anything and everything. She had hoped that when Roz came along, Callum would switch his accusations to her, but instead he had given Roz most of Suzie’s jobs saying that Roz was better at them than Suzie. She wiped her tears away with the heels of her hands. She never thought she would see the day when she would be jealous of someone doing the degrading job of begging for leftovers in the market, because they were deemed better at it than her. Roz had made Suzie feel worse about herself than she already did, and to cap it all, she had the effrontery to get herself a boyfriend and a better life despite everything she had lost, leaving Suzie with a disgruntled father, and a grandmother whose mobility was going downhill fast. She shook her head. How dare Roz enter their lives and turn everything upside down before swanning off into the sunset?

She gave an exclamation of disbelief as she remembered the conversation she had overheard before entering the room. Roz didn’t just have one lad but two vying for her affections, and she had sat there like Lady Muck deciding who she liked the best when Suzie couldn’t even get one. She wondered if they knew about each other, then remembered something Roz said about not wanting to rock the boat. It had sounded to Suzie as though Bernie knew about Felix but not the other way round. She tutted disapprovingly. Everyone seemed to think that Roz was some wonderful girl who’d had such a hard time, but Suzie didn’t see things that way. She thought that Roz had a much better life than she, and it was high time someone did something about it, but how?