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‘I really am the one who should be apologising. I promised you could trust me, but I didn’t trust you and I lied by omission – despite knowing how important honesty is to you. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, then I dragged you out in the middle of the night, putting you in a difficult professional position, because I was too stupid to realise you might be the one person on the planet I can really talk to.’

‘We really are a right pair, aren’t we?’ Mia sighed and took another sip of her tea.

‘Yeah. Oh, and speaking of honesty… I swear I didn’t do it on purpose… but that’s not rooibos. I’m fairly certain it’s one of Ophelia’s truth teas. Sorry again.’

Mia peered into her cup and then laughed. ‘Maybe I did need a kick up the arse. If I’m being honest’ – she grinned – ‘I didn’t know how to start this conversation, or what to say to you. In some ways, I feel really silly…’

‘You’re not silly, Mia.’

‘But we were. We were so careful about setting and keeping the boundaries around Friday nights that we almost forgot about our friendship.’

‘I didn’t.’

‘Me neither. But I did say “almost”. We were so clear about Friday fun expectations, but we didn’t talk about them for everything else. And I went off all butthurt and with my knickers in a twist because I thought you were keeping something from me, which you never agreed to share with me.’

‘No. But I should have told you, because you needed to know. I was trying to be brave and stoic, and instead I screwed up one of the best friendships I ever had. And, if I’m being honest – which I’m not sure I have any choice about right now – then I should have talked to you because it might have helped.’

‘I’m still here.’

‘I know, and I’m so grateful for that. I really am sorry, Mia.’

‘I’ll tell you what.’ She put her drink down and leaned to stretch her hand across the table between them. ‘If you can forgive me for being a stupid bratty princess, then I’ll forgive you too.’

She hadn’t even got past the – highly amusing and quite adorable – comment about her knickers before he’d made his decision, not that there really was any other one he could consider making. He caught her hand and used it to pull her out of her seat and into a massive hug. ‘If you can forgive me for being an arse, I can definitely forgive you for getting your knickers in a wad.’

‘I definitely can.’ She hugged him back tightly. ‘And it was in a twist, not a wad. Annoying Biker Boy.’

Despite her grumbles, she stayed there, exactly where it felt like she was meant to be, and peace flooded through him. When she looked up at him again, her eyes were glossy and bright. ‘You know I meant what I said, right?’

He was so tempted to kiss her right then, to pretend it was a Friday night before he’d nearly screwed up the best – if oddest – friendship he’d ever had. But that was far too likely to break things, so he did the most sensible thing he could think of, and grinned down at her. ‘What? About wodging up your lacy things?’

‘Ugh, you’re so annoying.’ She laughed, just like he’d hoped she would, and shoved him away – less good, but at least it was a lot more normal. For them, at least. ‘I meant about still being here if you need to talk. If you still think it will help.’

‘I’m not even sure I know how to start the conversation. And you know I’m being honest right now!’

‘Yeah.’ She laughed softly. ‘But you could try something like “Mia, I could use someone to talk to” and keep it simple.’

‘Mia.’ He licked his lips nervously and blurted out the words. ‘I think I need someone to talk to.’

‘OK.’ Mia sat down again, this time on the sofa, and pulled him down next to her. ‘Talk.’

‘It was really gradual at first.’ The words tumbled out. ‘She just seemed a bit clumsy sometimes… especially when she was tired, which she put down to being too busy at work. She was a hairdresser. I can’t remember if I’d told you that. But obviously she had to give it up. Can’t exactly be waving sharp scissors and hot styling tools around people’s heads when your own hands don’t always do what they’re told.’

‘No.’ She squeezed his hand, encouraging him to keep talking.

‘Then things got worse – she started forgetting things. Not just normal everyday things like where her phone was, but the more complicated things… like she’d get halfway through a recipe she’d been cooking for years and get confused what stage she was at. There were some… interesting… outcomes from that. That and a few aches and pains. Nothing you couldn’t easily put down to a lack of sleep or getting older.’

‘I think that can often be the case.’

‘But then she started to get down, and really grumpy… That’s what worried me enough to make her promise to go to the doctor: Ma isn’t someone who gets like that. And she did go, but the doctor didn’t do much. Just ran a few blood tests and sent her home. Said her symptoms weren’t specific and not especially concerning. Blamed menopause. God, I wish he’d been right about that.’

Mia didn’t really know what to say, so she just squeezed his hand again, reminding him she was there for him.

‘Nothing happened for months. And Mia, you have to understand I wasn’t here. I only came back last year when things got so bad she had to give up work – before then I was living up north and working in accounts. Boring as boring, but it paid well. But it meant I wasn’t here often. Then one visit – probably her birthday or something, because it was definitely summer – I found it weird she was wearing trousers. Turned out she’d fallen and scraped and bruised her knees badly. More than once. Then the doctors paid attention. They did more tests, and scans, and it took them a while, but they eventually came back with Huntington’s. A huge shock.’

‘There was nothing in your family history to indicate it?’

‘You know about that?’