Alice glared at him, picturing pearl-handled daggers flying out of her eyes and pinning him to the wall, as she tried to counter her rising tide of shame and embarrassment. She hated Harry’s empathy and intensity—it was too much, too revealing. She had a sudden appreciation for Dan’s easygoing, no-drama personality and their lack of deep and meaningful conversations.

“Can we not talk about me right now?”

“Right. Yeah. Of course.” He took his glasses off and cleaned them on the hem of his shirt before sliding the dark frames back into place. “I thought Holly was all prepared for periods. H gave her the talk and some pads before she died.”

“That was over two years ago. Holly thinks sanitary products expire so she threw them out.”

Harry blanched. “So, that’s why she’s upset? She doesn’t have anything?”

“That, but mostly because a girl at school upset her telling her she had to use tampons.”

“She’s far too young for tampons,” he said emphatically before adding, “isn’t she?”

Alice felt sorry for him. “Using tampons is more about feeling comfortable and relaxed using them than age.”

“Bloody hell. Parenting takes you to places you never expected to go and then it abandons you in the mud without a map or a compass.”

“I’m not a parent, but I can say I never expected to be discussing tampons with you.” Or hot flashes and my failed menstrual cycle.

“My point exactly. It’s a perfect example of going places you never expected to go.”

Alice knew she didn’t want any more sympathy from Harry and decided not to give him any. “Now you’re just being dramatic. There’s both a road map and a compass for puberty. There’s heaps of information either online or in books. The first step is opening the conversation and the best way to do that is take her shopping. Show her that buying pads is a perfectly normal and everyday thing to do.”

He gave a rueful grin. “You’re right. But it’s been years since I bought any of that stuff and all the packaging will have changed. I’ve already let Holly down once by not checking she was sorted. I don’t want to stuff up again.”

Alice thought about the array of pads on the market for the needs of women across their reproductive lives. She took his point. Whatever Holly’s mother had used might not be what Holly needed. “These days they make smaller pads for young girls. Buy those, but get the ones with wings.”

“Wings?”

“They fold over the crotch of the panties to hold the pad in place.”

He tapped on his phone. “Right, what else?”

“They make longer pads for overnight—”

Holly returned with Alice’s bag. “Here you are.”

“Thanks.” Alice pulled out a makeup bag decorated with Monet’s water lilies.

“That’s so pretty.”