Its tenderness struck her hard and she knew she needed to do something. She was beginning to wonder if Heather’s claim that she wanted to change had been faked for her benefit. Maybe it was simply a way to stop her from calling in child services. Ever since Andrea had attempted to drop in with the packet of Tim Tams a week ago, Heather seemed to be avoiding her. She couldn’t let Violet have a miserable Christmas. If she reasoned with Heather, maybe she could get her to agree to her idea.

*

Darren

Don’t forget to take the Doyalson Rd exit when you come off the freeway, otherwise you’ll end up halfway to Newcastle again. Better yet, hurry and leave so you can catch us up on the road. Love you.

Darren clenched his teeth as he read the message. How long had they been going to the Nords Wharf house? Obviously he knew which exit to take. He’d missed it once . . . years ago. It took all of his self-restraint not to write back: Or how about I just give the whole fucking thing a miss this year?

Of course, he wasn’t going to do that. It was the first anniversary of their dad’s death. As much as Darren had a whole heap of shit going on in his own world, he wasn’t going to be an arsehole to his mother, even if he would have preferred to be alone right now.

He was going to have to leave a bit later than the others because he was waiting for Tia to turn up and claim her dog. He planned to ask her to show him photos of her with Freddie before he let him go with her, just to be certain she was the genuine owner.

At first, he hadn’t understood why his mum had been upset that he was going to be running late and couldn’t travel in the convoy as per her plan.

Pete had had to spell it out for him. ‘Last year we all drove separately and Mum and Dad ended up caught on their own. That’s why it’s so important to her.’

And then Darren had felt like a dick for not realising. Of course, that made sense. But unfortunately, he’d already agreed to let Tia come and collect her dog. He promised he’d do his best to catch up. But at least Jill wasn’t going to be alone. Pete and Tony were both running on time to meet her at the designated spot before they got on the freeway.

He tapped out a reply to his mum. No worries, thanks for the reminder. Love you too.