Edie often came after school to Mrs Newman’s, but Katherine hardly saw Robbie. Every afternoon when she arrived home from work he was at the gym. He’d come home for dinner and then go straight back out with Billy again. It made her wonder about this Charlie O’Donnell. Still it kept Robbie off the streets and out of trouble, and it stopped him talking endlessly about Donald. Dad this and Dad that. Not that she could blame him. A boy needed a man in his life – Charlie O’Donnell would do just fine.
‘Robbie is hardly ever home these days,’ she said as she climbed into Yung’s bed. ‘I don’t know who he is any more.’
Yung didn’t answer. He held her in his arms but did not want to make love.
‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘What’s the matter?’
He was silent, and when she kissed his cheek it was wet.