“We’re fine,” Ellie began, only to have her face crumple a little bit. Olivia sat up in alarm, sloshing her wine over her hand.

“Ellie...?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really,” Ellie said as she fished for a hanky and blew her nose. “I’m being hormonal and weepy for no good reason.”

“That’s not true,” Ava fired back. “It’s a big deal, Ellie.”

“What is?” Olivia asked. She felt as if she’d missed part of a crucial conversation.

Ellie took a shuddering breath and a gulp of wine. “Oliver and I—and Abby, of course—are moving to Oxford in January.”

“What!” Olivia stared at her in surprise and dismay. “But...why?”

“We both work in Oxford, and it makes sense to be closer,” Ellie said, sounding rather resigned. “And Abby’s been accepted for the next term to Headington Girls.”

“She’s going to a girls’ school?”

“She wants to,” Ellie said. “She pushed the application.”

“But...” Olivia was at a loss, although she realised she didn’t know Abby all that well. Mallory did most of the talking.

“She’s very driven,” Ellie said. “Unlike me. And a lot of the students at the comp mess about. It’s a good school, but she has the drive and Oliver has the money, so...” She shrugged. “Besides, it wasn’t really working, both of us commuting.”

“Right.” Olivia’s mind whirled. She’d come to depend on this little group of five. She hated the thought of losing even one of her dear friends.

“Well, you’re not the only one who is thinking of a move,” Harriet said with a wry smile. “Richard and I put an offer on a house on the other side of the village, and it’s been accepted. All things being equal, we should be able to move out by March.”

“What...!”

“You did?”

“Where?”

Harriet waved away all their surprised questions with a smile. “On the rougher side, as it were...an old wreck, but it’s what we could afford, and the truth is, we’re squeezed in this little place.”

“I can’t believe it,” Ava cried. “Willoughby Close will be completely empty.” Alice had moved into Willoughby Manor last year, when she’d married Henry Trent, and Ava had moved into the caretaker’s cottage with Jace. Their cottages hadn’t been let yet, and now the other two would be vacated, as well. It was strange to think of the cheerful little courtyard with its cluster of four cottages completely unoccupied. Olivia didn’t like it.

“Everyone’s moving on in one way or another, aren’t they?” Alice said with a nostalgic sigh. “It makes me feel a little sad, somehow.”

It made Olivia feel sad, as well. Everyone was moving on in some way...but her. She sat back and sipped her wine as the conversation swirled around her, talk of jobs and houses, babies and children. All her friends were married; all of them had children save for Alice, who had a manor and a charity to run, and was likely to start a family in the near future. All of them, Olivia acknowledged with a funny little pang she wasn’t used to feeling, had lives that suddenly seemed far fuller and busier than her own.