Ed can’t contemplate driving home on an empty stomach, so he and Mum have driven to the village to fetch fish and chips for dinner. Which leaves me and Lily alone in the house.

Our last chance. Thanks, Fuzz – we owe you one.

The instant they’re gone, we’re zooming up to the attic. “What shall we play?” Lily asks, brandishing her drumsticks impatiently (they’ve become her drumsticks).

“I don’t know,” I say. There isn’t much time. We’ll only manage one song, so it feels important to get it right.

“What about that one Jupe wrote for you?” she asks.

I push away the image of Ed playing “Clover’s Song” with his eyes screwed up, refusing to tell me how he knew it. “OK,” I say, picking up the sunset guitar. “Think you can remember it?”

“Of course,” she says, laughing. Then she’s playing the intro, and I’m straight in, and it’s as if Jupe’s here with us, insisting that we could be a real band, even though I’m no singer – even he’d admit that. But we could find one, couldn’t we? And a bass player too? What was it he said about finding your soulmates? Jupe always believed I’d make something of myself. And I promised I’d give it my best shot, didn’t I?

“Let’s play it again,” I say recklessly. And we do, over and over, until the song’s sounding almost right. We try playing it faster, then slow it right down, not noticing time ticking away, and no longer caring that Mum and Ed could come back with our fish and chips any minute…

“Well, look what we’ve got here!”

I stop dead. Lily staggers to a halt on the drums. My eyes slide in the direction of the open hatch.

And I try to speak, but no words come out. A round, pink head has popped up through the hatch, its raisiny eyes fixed upon us. “So,” Ed says with a slow smile. “This is what you’ve been up to.”

 

He steps up through the hatch. I’ve frozen with the sunset guitar slung across my body.

“Can’t believe it,” Ed gasps, gazing around in wonder. “This must be Jupe’s band stuff. It’s incredible.” He walks around slowly, touching each instrument in turn. I can’t move, can’t even look at Lily. “Why didn’t you say anything about this?” he asks.

I sense Lily staring at me, willing me to speak, to be the big sister who always knows what to do. Ha! When have I ever been good at that? “We … just wanted it to be our thing,” I mumble. “We, um…” I know how feeble this’ll sound. “We were … pretending to be in a real band,” I add meekly.

A smile spreads over Ed’s face. It’s a kind smile, which softens his eyes, crinkling their corners. “Well, I can understand that,” he says. “It’s like a shrine, isn’t it, to your uncle?”

I nod, speechless.

“Ed!” Mum cries, and I hear her trotting lightly upstairs. “Where are you? The fish and chips are getting cold.”

“We’re in the attic,” Ed calls back.

“Why? What are you doing up there?”

“Come and see,” Ed calls back. “You won’t believe it, Kerry.”

“What’s going on?” Her voice is coming from the landing now. There’s the faintest smell of vinegary fish and chips.

“Not sure I fancy climbing that rickety old ladder,” Mum announces. “It doesn’t look safe, Ed, and I’m not great with heights…”

“You’ll be fine,” he says, stepping down to help her. “Just take it slowly, OK? You’re not going to fall.”

“I really don’t like ladders,” she protests.

“C’mon, you have to see this!”

“All right, Ed,” Mum replies. “Don’t rush me…” I can hear the ladder’s metallic creaks, then her face appears at the hatch, eyes widening as she takes in the scene. “My God,” she breathes. “So he did keep everything after all. Why on earth didn’t you tell us, girls?”

“We, um, were just … playing,” Lily whispers.

I take off the guitar and carefully place it on its stand. Mum stares at it. “That’s not … the one, is it? The one you dropped?”

“Yes,” I say dully.

Mum steps towards it and runs a fingertip across its smooth surface. “Are you sure, darling?”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s as good as new,” she says in a whisper. “I tried to tell him it could be fixed, but he kept saying that wasn’t the point, that it would never be the same again…” My heart feels like it’s being squeezed like a lemon. “He was wrong, wasn’t he, Clover?” she adds.

“Guess so,” I say. Here it comes: How much d’you think we’ll get for all this stuff? Maybe enough to have that cruddy back porch knocked down that your dad should never have built in the first place, and a proper extension put up, or a home gym for Ed, for when he moves in and becomes your new stepdad… Oh my God, Ed, we’re going to be rich!

I stare at Mum, barely able to breathe. It’s Ed who breaks the silence. “So, Kerry, bet you didn’t know your Lily’s one hell of a drummer?”

 

We pick at cold, clammy fish and chips, have a final check of the house and post the keys through the letter box at the solicitor’s office. Then we drive home in Ed’s van. I catch a last glimpse of Silver Cove, the sea glinting in the distance.

There’s a song playing in my head that no one else can hear. It’s the one Jupe wrote for me. It’s gentler than his other songs, which makes it seem even more special. Most of Jupe’s fans would be surprised to hear it, but I always knew there was another, softer side to him.

A bit like with Mum, who’s looking out at the green, rolling hills and faraway sliver of sea. On my other side is Lily, and on her lap is a wicker basket. And inside that basket is a slight less scrawny but still mean-tempered ball of black fur called Fuzz.