Deciding where to have her baby was forgotten once she was inside the supermarket propelling her trolley along the aisles. It was only September, the baby wasn’t due till March and right now she had a dinner party to prepare.

Dan had been suggesting they invite Ted and Heather Watson over for a meal for some time. Now that Paula was feeling better she had finally given in but only with the proviso that they could also invite Bruce and Jane and her friends from town, Dara and Chris. Glancing from her list to the shelves, Paula cursed her insistence.

She was confident at cooking light meals but her lifestyle in Sydney had meant she’d eaten out a lot. Since marrying Dan, she’d had several cooking fiascos and their entertaining had been limited to casual ‘everyone bring a plate’ meals or barbecues. It was easy when the blokes cooked chops and sausages and the occasional piece of chicken, while the women all brought salads.

Dan had offered to do that tonight but Paula had been determined to have a proper sit-down meal, all provided by her. The Watsons on their own had been too awkward to contemplate and she’d insisted on inviting the others, but now that she had to cook for eight, she was worried she might have stretched her capabilities.

She picked through the potatoes trying to find several the same size and her thoughts turned to Heather Watson. With four children and a full-time job she was always on the run and Paula rarely saw her, while Ted was regularly at their farm helping Dan with the sheep. The two men had become partners in a new stud ram.

Dan got on well with Ted and even though Paula often found herself cringing at his crude remarks and insensitive comments she had grown to tolerate their neighbour. She wondered yet again how someone as gentle as Heather ended up with someone as boorish as Ted.

The supermarket was busy and around every corner she ran into someone she knew. It was hardly five months since she’d married Dan and moved to this rural community, yet she felt very comfortable most of the time. It was pleasant to have people smiling and calling you by name when you shopped instead of the dash and grab she used to do, or waiting for her Woolworths online delivery to arrive.

Paula consulted her list again. It was all very well to stop and chat but she still had lots to do and making sure she had everything on her list was very important. It was too far to pop back to the shop if she left off a vital ingredient.