It was with great relief that they finally entered the kitchen, the task of putting the shopping away drawing attention from the absence of any meaningful conversation. Just as they’d set the bags down on the table, Daisy burst into the room.

“WHY HAVE YOU BEEN SHOPPING?!” she asked.

United against a common enemy, Esther and Susan shrank closer together, keeping the table between them and a very angry Daisy.

“We? . . . needed? . . . food?” Esther whimpered.

“I only did my online shopping yesterday!”

Susan and Esther exchanged a glance. They’d been through all the cupboards after lectures and written a list of all the things that weren’t in there. Essentials such as instant noodles and hummus and beef jerky and pesto.

“Maybe the delivery hasn’t arrived yet?” Susan sounded as nervous as Esther felt.

“I ORDERED IT TO BE DELIVERED BEFORE NOON.”

“Maybe someone ate it?” Esther’s voice got smaller with each word, so fiercely was Daisy scowling at them.

“MAYBE THAT PERSON WAS YOU?”

“I don’t think Esther was—”

“OR YOU?”

With the full beam of Daisy’s rage focused on her, Susan reached out and gently pushed one of the shopping bags toward Daisy. “We bought you some crumpets.”

And as if someone had flicked a switch, Daisy returned to normal. “Ooh, crumpets. Thank you.”

Then she left the room.

Once they’d heard the click of her door, Susan whispered, “Definitely acting weird.”

Susan and Esther were acting weird. Why had they eaten all the food Daisy had ordered, then replaced it with all the wrong things? So Daisy decided the best thing to do was to encourage them to fill up at breakfast, so that the next time she ordered food to be delivered from the supermarket, she’d actually get to eat some of it.

“But, Daisy, I don’t like muesli . . .”

“No one does, Susan. But things that are good for us aren’t always nice. You know that. You’re training to be a doctor.”

“I—what . . . ?”

But Daisy did not have time for this, and she simply pushed her tray purposefully along, taking Susan’s with it. Potatoes, bacon, beans, nuts, fruit . . .

“I can’t eat all this!”

“You didn’t have a problem eating all these things yesterday.”

Susan cast her a desperately bewildered look, which Daisy ignored, because Esther hadn’t put enough eggs on her plate. They were like children, these two.

This thought aroused something deep and precious within Daisy’s brain, and there was the briefest flicker of something . . . but as with so many of Daisy’s thoughts these days, it got sucked back into a formless fog.

“Come on.” Daisy marched across the room to where she’d spied a lovely big space for the three of them.

Just as she’d set her tray down, someone else did the same. Big, jovial, familiar.

“Poppy!”