‘You’ll always be my friend, won’t you?’ ‘Always.’ He squeezes her shoulders, which are heartbreakingly thin. During Hodges’s final two months, she lost ten pounds she couldn’t afford to lose. He knows his mother and Barbara are just waiting to feed her up. ‘Always, Holly.’ ‘I know,’ she says. ‘Then why did you ask?’ ‘Because it’s so good to hear you say it.’
