As is typical, Dad only appears in the dining room once all the food is on the table and we're ready to eat. He opens a bottle of red wine at my mum's request and pours everyone a glass. Mum makes the introductions.

'Carlise, this is Riley, Katie's datemate. And this is Bella. Edward's girlfriend.'

Dad nods at Riley and then Bella in turn. 'Pleased to meet you.'

Bella's knee bumps mine under the table and I look up at her. Our conversation is swift and silent:

Her raised eyebrows. Girlfriend, huh?

My smile and small shrug. Yeah. That okay?

Her grin. Yes.

I'm pretty sure Katie and Mum have deliberately seated Riley across from Dad to limit his opportunities to say something shitty to them, so it's Bella who comes under his scrutiny first.

'And what do you do with yourself, Bella?' He swirls his wine quickly and then pokes his nose into the glass. He nods to himself before returning his attention to Bella.

'Well, I'm at uni,' Bella says.

'Good girl. Which course?'

Katie shoots me a look but I shake my head at her. I'm not sure if she's pissed at his patronising tone or the subtle jab at me. Dad probably won't ever get over the fact I didn't apply to go to uni but I've made peace with his disappointment. Him talking to Bella like she's twelve, though, I have a problem with.

'Early Childhood.'

'Hmm.' Dad purses his lips. He's still rocking the hideous moustache—December can't come quick enough. 'You want to be a preschool teacher, then.'

Bella nods. 'Ideally, yeah. But I'll also be qualified to teach in primary schools and work in daycare centres.'

Dad makes a hmmph noise, which means he's got an opinion he feels the need to share. It's probably going to involve him shitting on women for putting their kids in daycare, so I head him off by telling him that Bella juggles study, two jobs, volunteering at Nippers, and her own training.

Bella looks at me sideways as my dad starts raving about how lovely it is to see a young person with so much ambition. I can't interpret her look, whether she's embarrassed by the praise being heaped on her or annoyed at my less than subtle steering of the conversation.

'I don't think I'd describe myself as ambitious,' Bella says. She frowns at her plate. 'I just like to keep busy.' There's a whole lot she's not saying right now. I make a mental note to ask her about it privately.

'Nothing wrong with ambition,' Dad says, oblivious Bella's shift in demeanour. 'Too many of your generation just expect everything to be handed to them without realising they have to put in the work. You'—he points his knife at her—'clearly know the value of hard work.'

'Ok boomer.'

The whole table falls silent as everyone stares at my mother.

'What?' she says. She takes a big sip of wine. 'I know how to use the internet.'

'You're not old enough to be Boomers,' Katie says.

'The outlook's still the same, isn't it?' Mum says.

Katie shrugs, conceding the point.

Dad looks completely lost. 'What on earth are you talking about, Esme?'

'Not a thing,' Mum says. She holds out her glass to him. 'Top me up?'

Dad obliges, and while he's sufficiently distracted, Mum asks Bella if she grew up locally.

'No, we moved here about four years ago. Well, my parents are from here originally, but they moved to the Shire before I was born.'

'And the property market sent them back up here.' I've never really noticed it before, the way my father makes a statement when he should ask a question, but it's fucking annoying.

Bella shrugs and pushes some lamb around on her plate. 'That could have been part of it. But I had an accident and that really shook Mum up. She needed the support of family and friends around her, so she wanted to move back up here.'

Her mother needed the support? It was Bella who had the traumatic brain injury, Bella who needed to remember her parents' names and how to walk and talk. And yet it's Bella who is smiling softly as she says, 'It's been really good for her. She has heaps of friends here and she's been able to reconnect with them. She's really happy.'

It socks me in the chest: deep, overwhelming affection and no small amount of awe. I squeeze Bella's knee under the table and she covers my hand with her own. My stomach and my heart are trying to switch places and I think my hands might be shaking because Bella's eyebrows furrow as she looks at me. I flip my hand over and link our fingers together.

'Were you hurt, Bella?' Riley asks, pulling our attention away from one another. 'In the accident?'

Bella licks her lips and nods. 'Yeah. Not as badly as I could've been, but rehab took a long time. I missed a lot of school.' She uses the hand not tangled in mine to tuck her hair behind her ear. 'I ended up having to repeat Year 11, so moving worked out okay for me, too.' She picks up her fork and spears a piece of broccoli. 'Katie, Edward told me you're doing medicine next year. That's amazing. Congratulations.'

'Thank you!' My sister beams as she launches into a ridiculous story about how she almost missed her MSA interview because she'd managed to get completely lost on campus and had to keep asking people for directions. 'But it's all good,' she says. 'I've seen basically every building on the entire campus now, so I'll have no trouble finding my classes next year.'

I watch Riley's face as Katie talks and I wonder if that's how I look when I'm listening to Bella. Because it's all there on Riley's face: pride, adoration, awe. All the things I feel when I listen to Bella talk about missing a year of school like it was no big deal and am reminded of how fucking strong she is, how resilient she's had to be to get to where she is today.

Maybe they sense me watching them, because Riley looks up and catches my eye. They brush some hair off their forehead and give me a small grin, an unspoken, 'I know, right?' Because we are some lucky fuckers to have these amazing women in our lives.

MSA interview = Multiple Skills Assessment (part of the selection process for entry into Medicine).