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had been really surprised when Oscar had sat next to her on the bus that afternoon and asked what she was doing at the weekend.
    ‘There’s a band on at the Neptune, if you want to go. I don’t know what they’re like. But it could be a laugh.’
    Oscar had been the first person Daisy really noticed when she arrived at her new school. He was very tall, and wore a greatcoat with silver buttons and the collar turned up, skinny jeans tucked into big boots with the laces undone, and a paisley scarf with long tassels. With his dark, messy hair and long eyelashes, he stood out a mile.
    She supposed he’d asked her out because she was a novelty, a newcomer from London, which was where he was from, too. She hadn’t said yes, because she wasn’t sure if her dad would let her go to the Neptune. She was plucking up the nerve to ask him, because she wanted his approval. Daisy knew her own mind, but she wasn’t a rebel, not really. And she respected her dad.
    She could also sense the other girls at school would be a little jealous of her being asked out by Oscar. There was no doubt he was the coolest boy in the school. Daisy felt a bit funny inside when she thought about being alone with him.
    She didn’t want to talk about it with Jim, though, so she changed the subject to something she’d been thinking about for a while.
    ‘You know what?’ she asked. ‘I think it’s time Dad got a girlfriend.’
    Jim gave her a pained expression. ‘Are you serious?’
    ‘Course I am.’
    ‘What about … you know. Mum?’
    ‘In case you haven’t noticed, she’s not here any more.’
    ‘No, but …’ Jim looked upset as he absorbed the notion.
    ‘Seriously, you know what? Mum wouldn’t mind. Dad needs company. He needs someone to hang out with. All he does is work. And watch TV. And look after us.’
    ‘I can’t imagine him with someone else.’
    ‘He can’t stay single for the rest of his life. And it has been four years.’
    ‘Yeah, I know, but …’ Jim frowned and shrugged. ‘It makes me feel weird, thinking about it.’
    Daisy touched her nails to her cheek to make sure they were dry. ‘Don’t you think he must be lonely?’
    ‘He’s got us.’
    Daisy gave her brother a level look.
    ‘Oh God,’ said Jim. ‘You’ve got sex on the brain.’
    ‘I’m not just talking about sex. I’m talking about … companionship.’
    Jim looked baffled.
    ‘I guess you wouldn’t understand.’ Daisy blew on her nails to accelerate the drying process.
    ‘What can we do about it, anyway? Isn’t it up to him?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Daisy.
    Jim looked down at the floor.
    ‘No one would be like Mum.’
    Daisy looked at her brother. Sometimes he drove her nuts, but he was still her little brother. And suddenly he seemed really young and not that annoying at all.
    ‘Hey.’ She sat down next to him and gave him a hug. ‘Of course no one will ever be like Mum. But that doesn’t mean Dad has to be on his own for the rest of his life.’
    Jim didn’t answer for a while. He just stared at the carpet. Daisy felt bad she’d even brought the subject up. Jim was much more protective of their mother’s memory than she was. It wasn’t that she didn’t care. Or that she didn’t miss her. She had to be robust about it in order to survive. She was about to squeeze him even tighter when he looked up. He was grinning, and there was a gleam in his eye behind his glasses that Daisy recognised.
    ‘I’ve got an idea,’ he said.

4
     
    Kate had forgotten how minuscule Belle Vue was, even by cramped New York apartment standards.
    The front door opened straight into the kitchen, with a row of dilapidated dark-brown units, a larder and a downstairs loo. The back door opened onto a courtyard, an open-tread staircase led upstairs to the two bedrooms, and a doorway hung with an orange curtain opened onto the living room. It seemed incredible to think that she and her parents had muddled along together in the tiny space for so many