This shook me a little. She and I have discussed a lot of things before, particularly finances - we're the only two earners in the house and my sisters don't want a say in how the money's spent anyway, insist that it's ours so why don't we stop bothering them about it.

What I realised, though, was that in that moment she wasn't Mum talking to her son, not even having a mature conversation with her son. She was Zinnia talking to Dane, two adults having a talk that would probably change things forever between us.

"I don't think you're fucked up," I suggested, and she didn't tell me off...