Page 183 of When We Were Young

‘Come here.’ She pulls me close and whispers, ‘Dad and I are so proud of you.’

I have to swallow before I can speak. ‘I’m sorry I was such a difficult teenager.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ she says, waving a hand. She picks up one of my books and turns it over in her hands. ‘He would have liked you, you know.’

‘Will?’

‘Yes. The way you write. This book. The way you talk about music. I’ve often thought that…’

I don’t want to blub in front of everyone, so I change the subject. ‘Come on. People are waiting to see you.’

‘Oh myGod!’ Mum cries when she recognises Matty, Reu, and Aidan. She hugs them in turn and Dad follows behind, shaking their hands.

‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ Mum tells Reu, stepping back to take in his long black ringlets.

‘Neither have you,’ he replies.

‘Yeah, I know…’ says Matty, patting his gut and running his hand over his smooth head. ‘I’ve changed quite a lot.’

We all laugh.

Mum says, ‘Lovely to see you, Aidan.’

‘You too.’

Dad puts his hand on the small of her back; he knows they were once lovers. Beth offers us drinks from a tray. Everyone takes a glass of champagne, except Reu, who takes a juice.

‘Twenty-six years sober,’ he says, raising his glass.

‘That’s a massive achievement, Reu. Well done,’ says Mum.

Dad raises his glass. ‘To Liv and her terrific book.’

Everyone raises their glass towards me. ‘To Liv.’

I raise mine. ‘To Will.’

‘To Will.’

I excuse myself to say hello to Tumi and Paul and the team fromAmplify, then spend the following half hour mingling. When I get back to the group, Mum is throwing her head back in laughter at something Matty is saying.

‘Reu got locked in the toilet at Red Rocks just as we were about to go on stage,’ he says. ‘Will and I had to break the door down.’

‘That was a night to remember,’ says Mum.

Reu laughs. ‘I wishIcould remember it.’

I recall the magic of the place when Mum and I visited on our road trip. Everyone goes quiet. Mum’s eyes look glassy and Matty gives an awkward cough.

The two hours we’ve hired the room pass in a flash. I’ve answered the same questions over and over. My feet, in their dainty heels, are killing me and I’m exhausted.

Mum and Dad have gone ahead to the restaurant with Chloe, Dan, and Beth. Ben’s waiting for me by the staircase.

‘Why don’t you wait downstairs?’ I call over. ‘I’ll be down in a minute.’

He looks up from his phone and smiles. Even after all this time, he still makes my chest flutter. He nods and bounds off down the stairs.

I sit at the table where I’d been signing books earlier and pick up the pen that Mary gave me. I roll it around in my fingers, then use it to sign one more book: