2003
Rob draws on his cigarette as he stands outside the hospital doors. He sees his mother approaching out of the corner of his eye and braces himself for a lecture.
"Can I have one?" says Clare instead. Rob looks at her in surprise, then holds one out. She inhales and he lights it for her.
"Your dad never smoked a day in his life," she says by way of explanation. Rob nods.
"It's not too late, you know," she adds conversationally. "You can still make peace with him."
Rob doesn't know where he would begin. There's so much he wants to say to his father, about how he had needed someone back then to tell him that what had happened wasn't his fault. Instead he'd got looks of suspicion and a one-way ticket to England until too much time had passed to talk about it and recriminations had given way to polite conversation.
"You'll regret it if you don't, Adam," she says, and for once he doesn't correct his name. "Come back in and tell him that you forgive him."
"What if I don't?" he says.
"Say you do anyway. You can work on the forgiveness after he's gone. But don't miss your chance to tell him." Clare grounds out the cigarette on the ground. "I'll see you in there."
Rob finishes his cigarette slowly and turns to go back inside. What his mother said is making sense to him. He thinks about what he would say to Peter and Jamie if he had the opportunity, and his footsteps quicken on the hospital corridor as he realises that this time he still has a chance. He arrives at his father's room, ready to be the bigger person for once, but by the time he gets there it's too late.