Jill gave her a quick squeeze before standing up, grabbing a box of tissues to place them surreptitiously in front of Callie, and then hurrying away to the kitchen to boil the kettle. Maybe by the time she came back with the tea, Callie would be ready to talk.

Jill realised as she made the tea that this meant Mimi had been right. Something was going on with Callie; she shouldn’t have been so dismissive of her daughter-in-law’s concerns.

Ten minutes later, Callie’s tears were finally starting to subside. Jill had almost finished her own cup of tea, but Callie’s had pretty much sat on the table in front of them untouched. Jill had done her best to make conversation, nattering on about the weather or Christmas or about it almost being school holidays.

‘Do you actually like tea?’ Jill said eventually.

Callie gave a small smile. ‘Not really,’ she said.

‘Sorry, I should have thought to offer you something else.’

‘No,’ said Callie, ‘it’s fine. I don’t need anything.’

‘Are you ready to tell me what’s got you so worked up?’

‘It’s . . .’ Callie faltered. ‘It’s like . . . I don’t even know who I am anymore. I’ve turned into such a huge bitch.’

Jill stayed silent, giving Callie the room to speak.

‘I’m mean to everyone and I can’t seem to help it. Like, sometimes it’s as though I’m watching from the outside and I can see myself saying these horrible, awful things and hurting Tara and hurting Mum . . . but I can’t stop myself. And I hate it, I hate myself, I don’t want to be that way.’

‘Okay, well, the fact that you feel bad about saying something nasty means that you’re not a bad person though, doesn’t it?’

Callie fidgeted. ‘Does it? I mean, wouldn’t it be better if I wasn’t a bitch in the first place?’

‘Don’t forget being a teenager is hard. It’s normal to lash out sometimes. And it’s always the people you love the most who you hurt the most. You’ve got all these hormones —’

Callie cut her off. ‘It’s not hormones.’

‘Okay. I only meant —’

‘This isn’t just normal teenage stuff. I went through all of that already, when I was like thirteen or fourteen. This is different. This is more than that.’

‘Callie,’ Jill said carefully, ‘has something happened? Something at school, maybe? Earlier, when you arrived, you said you were keeping your mouth —’

Callie spoke over her again. ‘Sorry, I was being stupid. My music teacher convinced me to sing at the concert that Tara’s performing at on Friday, and it’s this big secret. That’s all I meant. I’m just nervous about it. No one knows I’m doing it. Not even Mum and Dad.’