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‘It’s so hard, though.’

‘Which is why it’s good you’ve got the whole weekend. Look, I’ll head back soon and you guys can just have some time—she’ll talk when she wants to, Nina.’

‘And if she doesn’t?’

‘Then she was never going to.’

He’d been working with children a long time and was actually very good with adolescents, his slightly aloof, completely unshockable stance giving them confidence. More than most, Jack understood that things weren’t always as they seemed—was never blindsided by the persuasive words of the parents.

They drank their coffee and then headed out, only to be met by the delicious smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen. Nina realised that had she got out of bed the minute Jack had told her that Janey was up, had she dashed to the living room for the essential talk, then this might never have happened. Blake and Janey, standing in the kitchen and serving up a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausages and eggs from the ingedients that Nina had bought from the store last night.

‘This looks lovely.’

‘I’m starving,’ Jack said, and watching Janey serve up he reminded her that Nina was a vegetarian. ‘No sausages for your sister.’

‘It’s …’ She felt Jack’s hand squeeze hers, realised she must not make too much of a fuss. ‘I’ll set the table.’

Jack helped, and not just with the cutlery.

‘Janey is nearly sixteen,’ he pointed out. ‘She should be making breakfast, Nina.’

‘And she is.’

‘And you should be allowed to say you’re a vegetarian and that you don’t eat sausages.’ He looked at her. ‘You would have eaten them, wouldn’t you?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Liar.’ Jack grinned. ‘You’d go against every one of your principles just to please her. You don’t have to be her mum.’

‘I know that. But she needs more than just a big sister.’

‘No,’ Jack said. ‘She just needs you to be you and she needs to take on some of the responsibility too. What were you doing at that age?’

He left her for a moment to ponder and when he returned with orange juice and glasses she answered his question, because at fifteen years old her part-time job in the hardware store had made a vital contribution to the family.