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‘But he doesn’t have a girlfriend,’ Lucy said.

Jenny laughed. ‘Judging by the amount of aftershave he’s been wearing lately, I’dsay he does.’

Lucy decided to ask the one person who would know. ‘Kelly, is Dylan seeing someone?’

‘Uhm, I’m not sure,’ she lied. The last thing Kelly wantedwas to get into a conversation about Taylor. She knew her mother would think she was unsuitable because she was a party girl. To be fair, she’d be right. Taylor was bad for Dylan, but Kelly wasn’t going to snitch on her brother. They alwayshad each other’s backs. Well … they used to. Anyway, she wasn’t going to fail him now.

But her mother wasn’t letting it go. ‘Well, have you heard anything? Has he said anything to you? Have you seen him in school with anyone? I wonder if it’s that blonde girl I saw at the football match.’

Kelly got up and rinsed her plate. ‘I don’t know, Mum. I don’t really see Dylan in school. We’re in differentclasses for everything.’ She wanted to get out of the kitchen and away from all the questions. It was funny that her mum was so worried about Dylan, Kelly thought bitterly, when she herself was the one being bullied relentlessly.

‘Will you talk to him and find out?’ Lucy asked her. ‘I hate to see him upset.’

I’m upset too, Kelly wanted to shout. Instead she said, ‘Okay,’ and left the kitchen.

Billy sniffed. ‘You were the same when you were his age, always some kind of drama about a boy.’

‘No, there wasn’t!’ Lucy protested.

‘I was,’ Jenny said. ‘I had lots of boyfriend drama.’

Billy rolled his eyes. ‘Sure there was nothing but drama with you. You were always getting into trouble. I never had a day’s trouble with Lucy, but you …’

Except when she got pregnant and dropped out of college,Jenny wanted to say, but she bit her tongue. It was amazing that, even after everything that had happened with Lucy, Billy still saw Jenny as the difficult child.

Mind you, it was the same with Dylan. It was like history repeating itself. Dylan was perfect in Lucy’s eyes and Kellycould do nothing right. It pained Jenny to see her sister being so hard on Kelly. It reminded her of how her dadhad been with her. Maybe that was just what happened with kids: you had one you naturally loved more.

Billy wasn’t going to change now. Lucy would always be his favourite, no matter what Jenny achieved in her life. She’d given up trying to impress him.

‘Nothing wrong with a bit of drama. Dylan will be fine, Lucy. He’s probably just had a fight with the girl he’s seeing, or maybe he got dumped.He’ll bounce back. Sure they’ll be queuing up to go out with him – gorgeous and a superstar.’

‘I suppose so. I’m probably fussing. I just hate to see him down – he’s always so sunny.’

‘He’ll be grand. He’s a great fellow,’ Billy said. ‘Right, I’m off to open the shop. I’ll get a bag of groceries for you to take home, Jenny.’

‘Thanks, Dad.’

‘If you had a husband, he’d look after you. How didI end up looking after everyone?’

‘You love it,’ Jenny said.

‘My arse I do. I should be gardening or playing golf.’

‘You hate gardening and golf. We know you love that shop,’ Lucy said. ‘Sure it’s your third child.’

‘And the only one who never answers me back.’

‘Now,’ Jenny said, ‘on to something more important than coffee machines. What are we doing for your sixty-fifth?’

‘Dinner here withthe family is plenty,’ Billy said.

Jenny sighed. ‘Come on. It’s a chance for a night out. Live a little. How about dinner out?’

‘I don’t want a fuss.’

‘If I promise not to book a stripper, can we go out to dinner?’

‘Okay, but if you found a stripper who looked like Ursula Andress in the bikini in James Bond, I’d be fine with it.’ Billy winked at her.