Ashley pondered on that. Had her mother encouraged her to cook because of her heritage? Was that her nod to Cliff being her father? “As long as that’s all I’ve inherited. I do love cooking, but more as a hobby. I’m a nerd at heart. Maybe, one day, I’ll go to college.”

“Why ‘one day’? Why not now?”

“Well, there’s a small thing called a baby...” Ashley put her hand on her belly. “At the moment it’s a small thing, but soon it will be a big thing. And that’s the thing I’ve been struggling with most.”

“You can study when you’re pregnant.”

“But what about when the baby comes? I can hardly take it to classes with me, can I?”

“Some colleges are child-friendly. They have childcare programs.” There was a pause. “Or I could look after it. I promise not to teach it to cook. I’ll leave that part to you.”

“You’d help care for the baby?” She couldn’t believe Joanna would offer something like that. “Would you...want to?”

“Be Auntie Joanna? Oh, yes. I’d love it. This grilled cheese is so delicious. What are you teaching me to cook next?”

She heard the buzzer on the gate. They’d been talking and hadn’t noticed the time. “That must be Mel and Eden. You’ll be okay with Mel?”

Joanna stood up and picked up their empty plates. “Yes. Last night seemed all right, unless she was waiting for us to be alone together again to yell at me.”

“Er—I have a confession to make about that.”

“A confession?”

“I might have accidentally told Eden that it was Nate who broke up with you.”

“Oh.” She’d been worrying about it ever since, and wondering if Joanna would be upset. Was she? She couldn’t tell. “I was defending you. That’s one of my jobs, alongside teaching you to cook and sweeping sand from the living room. I’m not going to apologize for any of that. I do apologize for spilling a secret. I’m not generally a gossip.”

“I—right.” Joanna breathed. “It wasn’t a secret exactly. I didn’t even know that was what she thought until she turned up here. And we haven’t discussed it, because it never felt like the right time.”

The buzzer went again, more insistent this time, and Ashley shrugged.

“Maybe the right time is now.”

20

Mel

They took towels to the beach as they had when they were children, along with a cooler Joanna had filled with drinks and snacks.

Mel stripped off her top and shorts, sprawled on a towel in her swimsuit and examined her legs and arms. “Remember when we used to count freckles?”

“Yes.” Joanna settled down next to her, the brim of her hat almost concealing her features. “But I always won that game.”