Everything tasted better. The eggs Milly used to make their omelets on the days they didn’t eat yogurt. The vegetables, many of which were fresh from Connie’s garden.

And that had been a highlight for Nicole. Seeing Connie and Nanna Peg again.

They’d accepted her presence without question, welcoming her as they always had, with warmth and total acceptance. To them she was Milly’s best friend, and the trajectory of her career hadn’t changed that.

“In the end it’s just a job,” Nanna Peg had said, waving a dismissive hand when Milly had explained that Nicole was taking a break. “Whether you’re a librarian or movie star, when you close your front door, you’re just you.”

If she’d wanted to step out of her life, then this was the place to do it.

Nicole didn’t mention her pregnancy. She wasn’t ready to talk about it. The only person who knew about that was Milly, and she knew Milly would never betray that trust.

Their friendship seemed to have settled back into a comfortable place, but Nicole was constantly aware of the things she hadn’t told Milly, things that could bring their friendship crashing down again. And that knowledge niggled, like a stone in her shoe. She tried to ignore it. She told herself that there was no reason for Milly to find out and no reason to tell her. What good would it do now? They were becoming close again. That was the important thing. There was no rule that said you had to share absolutely everything with another person, was there? Even if that person was your oldest and dearest friend.

She comforted herself that it was all in the past, not even relevant now, and gradually she found herself relaxing.

And relaxing was easier than she would have imagined because she loved it here. There was a sense of being cut off from everything that existed beyond the lake and the trees, and she felt more secure and at ease than she had for a long time.

At first she’d assumed it was the idyllic surroundings that were making her feel better, but then she realized it was being with Milly, who, despite Nicole’s undoubted deficiencies as a friend, bathed her in kindness.

It made her understand how many of her relationships were transactional. Most of her team were there because she paid them. No one was with her because they cared. Not even Justin, as it turned out.

But Milly cared. She had always cared, and the fact that her love for Nicole stretched back way before she was famous to a time when she’d worn braces and cried because her mother hadn’t bothered to show up to watch her in the school play made their relationship all the more special. It was special because it was real, and so little in her life was real.