She was exaggerating slightly. Her mother had checked on her, had sent e-mails and called her a few times. But the conversation always circled back to Cora’s divorce and pleas for Cora and Alec to try to work it out, which had meant that Cora was occasionally screening her calls and messages. It was easier that way.

Unsurprisingly, her father had been the understanding one. He’d just sighed.

“Cora, I can’t tell you how to live your life,” he said. “My mother wanted me to marry her best friend’s daughter, but instead I married your mum, whose parents were from the wrong part of Asia. My dad talked her down. Your mum’ll get over it.”

If her father could be that understanding about her divorce, Cora could only hope he could tolerate other things, too.

Cora’s sexual identity had been settling over her. It was like a birthmark she’d always had but not realised: it was meant to be there, something she’d just not noticed. Her comfort level with it rose faster than she could have imagined. When Cora’s need to come out to her parents arose, which it would one day whether there was a woman in her life or not, hopefully her father could apply that story to this situation, too.

She kicked the covers off and padded through to her kitchen. It was nice to be back in the house she had yet to have a chance to make into a home. She made a quick tea and opened her back door to sit on the stoop. It was a bright day, winter definitely on its way out. The colder season always disappeared quickly in Perth; soon they’d be complaining about the heat. A deep breath left the taste of salt in the back of her throat, and Cora was relieved her place was so close to the beach.

Eventually, she got herself moving, looking over the job applications she’d sent off the last week before she’d flown out of Indonesia. By that point, she had the steaming heat of another tea warming her hand, and she noted with pleasure a reply from one job requesting an interview the following week. After sending a confirmation, Cora shut her laptop. It wasn’t the job she was hoping to get, but it was one with decent hours with Child Protection. The one she actually wanted was with the organisation she’d just spent five weeks volunteering for. Simon was going to give her a hand if he could.

She whiled away the rest of the morning with cleaning her house. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long as Lisa had dropped by to run the vacuum over the floor and stay a couple of nights to deter break-ins. She met Lisa for lunch at a simple sandwich bar.

“So, are you going to get a dog?” Lisa asked when they were sitting down with their food.