‘Any golden moments?’ Mum asks. ‘Golden moments’ are written down and collected for grant applications. I hold my breath, wondering if Pryia will talk about Nico. I know she won’t mention the leaflet or what happened in Joe’s – at least I hope she won’t.

‘Hope had her first golden moment today. I tell you now, Nikhil, you’ve never heard anything like it,’ Owen declares. I take my glasses off and clean them in a very detailed and thorough manner, not looking up once. ‘She’s a cross between Nina Simone and Tracy Chapman with a bit of Beyoncé thrown in, isn’t she, Pryia?’

‘I thought I heard a bit of Billie Holiday in there,’ Pryia adds. ‘She sang to Nico, a little boy on Paddington. She sang Tingaleyo but dropped it down a key and sang it to a different tempo, really quietly, really deep. She got Nico to stop crying and the best bit was the nurse crept in to give him his last meds of the morning and he didn’t even notice. He was holding Hope’s hand, just staring at her, and then he fell asleep,’

Everyone claps and I feel my skin flush. Mum comes over to me. She wraps her arms around me and whispers in my ear so that no one else can hear, ‘That’s my girl,’ and that means more to me than all the well dones in the world. As she sits back down, she’s beaming at me and it’s infectious, I can’t stop the smile spreading across my face. I wanted to tell her what’s been going on with me, that I’d lost my voice, but I didn’t, I just couldn’t. My voice has always been the one steady and solid thing between us. She’s always been so proud of it: it’s the thing she loves best about me. I couldn’t lose that as well as everything else.

On the way to the airport, Mum’s concentrating on driving, so I text Callie. I’m refusing to text Riley. Even though I know I should apologise, I’m still annoyed with him for interrupting me in the coffee shop. For the first time I was going to talk about it, I even started saying the P words, but he just couldn’t leave me be. He’s such an attention seeker.

Help!

What’s up?

Told Riley to fuck off.

Already? Why? What he’d do?

Just been annoying and so the host of the Riley show.

You weren’t talking about yourself again were you? Did you shove your face in all his me, me, me limelight? Ah, the mens, such delicate and sensitive sunflowers.

Cal, don’t go off on one. Anyway, it’s all wrecked now.

That’s the spirit, Hope. You go, girl. Positive Mental Attitude all the way.

He rang me. In the middle of Joe’s. Can you believe it?

No, it’s like he’s got a phone and he knows how to use it. Utter bastard.

Shut up. I need cinema & pick n mix but can’t go until Sunday cos Nonno’s coming.

Nonno visit! Cannot wait to see him, I’ve missed him. What do you want to watch?

Don’t mind, you choose.

Meryl it is then. Sunday is a go. You got me, sweets, and I’ll even throw a half an hour rant on why long distance relationships don’t work session into the mix. Checking out times now CX

‘He flew from Fiumicino directly this time,’ Mum starts talking. I nearly drop my phone.

‘What?’

‘I said he flew directly this time.’ She doesn’t need to explain this detail to me. When Nonno and Nonna flew over, they always stopped off somewhere along the way. Nonna said it was her chance of a bit of culture and sightseeing and Nonno always went along with it. When Nonna was alive…

‘What time does he land?’ I ask.

‘19:35. We should be there in about half an hour, depending on traffic.’

19:35 sounds weird. Airport mode. It’s nearly been a year since I saw Nonno. I’m nervous about seeing him, waiting in an impersonal airport lounge for our public reunion. I know Nonno will not let the environment of passports, security guards, customs, arrivals and departures curb his emotions. He will shout, he will laugh, he will cry while trying very hard not to. He will take his hat off and put it on my head and he will call out our names like he’s been waiting to say them forever. And they will sound right. Then he’ll kiss us twice and hold us so tight that I’ll find it hard to breathe. And in some ways it’ll feel normal, it’ll feel like nothing’s changed, except Dad won’t be there. It’ll be three of us instead of five – no Nonna.

And no Dad.