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Sally reached for her seatbelt and drew it slowly across her body, as though it was incredibly heavy. The beeping stopped.

‘Thank you,’ Mary said, and pulled out of the car park. As she turned onto the main road, her phone began to ring. It was Otis.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘You’re on speaker. What’s up?’

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I was thinking – wondering – if we could – if Tiffany could – come over? Tonight? For dinner?’

Mary suppressed a grin. Could Tiffany come for dinner? Of course she could. Mary loved the idea of her son having a girlfriend who she could befriend; she had a vision of the two of them sipping coffee and gossiping about the friend group over a coffee.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Tell her to get here around six?’

‘Thanks,’ Otis said. ‘We’re at home now, actually.’

‘Oh.’ Mary’s grin fell away. ‘Have you been there long?’

‘No. We just arrived.’

That was good, but still, two teenagers home together wasn’t quite what she was expecting. Who knew how they planned to spend their alone time? Well, everyone knew, which was precisely the problem.

‘Well,’ she said. ‘We just left the junior high. We’ll be home in a few minutes!’

The sense of disappointment on the line was palpable.

‘Oh,’ Otis said. ‘See you then.’

She ended the call and sped up slightly. Behind her, there was a snort.

‘His girlfriend’s welcome. It’s such favouritism.’

Mary didn’t reply. There was no point in explaining the difference – all the differences – between Otis, at sixteen, dating a respectable and well-brought-up classmate, and her, at fourteen, dating someone older – potentially much older – who drank and smoked and was not, even remotely, respectable.

Otis was sitting on the left side of the couch. Tiffany was in the middle – closer than you would have been if you were just friends, but not close enough to touch. Or not at that moment, anyway.

‘Hi, Mom.’

‘Hi, Otis.’ Mary smiled. ‘And hi, Tiffany. It’s lovely to see you again. It’s been a while.’

‘Hello, Mrs Jordan,’ Tiffany said, a faint blush spreading up her neck and onto her cheeks. ‘Thank you for having me over.’

Mary decided not to tell her to call her Mary, yet. ‘It’s a pleasure. We’re having lasagne. Is that OK?’

Tiffany nodded. ‘I eat more or less anything. I have two older brothers, so it’s always a bit of a fight to stop them snagging everything on the table.’

Mary smiled. ‘What are you two planning to do? Watch a movie?’

It was clear they had been planning to do something else, but the return of Otis’s family had scuppered those plans.

‘Yeah,’ Otis said. ‘A movie. That’s it.’

‘Enjoy,’ Mary said. ‘And if you need a drink or a snack, Tiffany, just let me know. Or you can get whatever you want yourself.’

She walked into the kitchen. Sally was pouring a glass of orange juice.

‘Hey,’ Mary said. ‘Can we talk?’

‘About what?’

‘Dylan.’