‘Okay.’ Greta shrugged. It was embarrassing to step back after that lecture. It was hard to just get there. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled.

‘That’s okay,’ Peggy said.

‘Trouble in paradise?’ Heidi said from the sink, doing the dishes.

‘Nope,’ they said together.

‘Glad to hear it.’

Then Dell was in the room with Heidi and Dell’s handbag, it was smaller and not a backpack. They didn’t need to take much with them to work. Just a wallet and some lipstick. They usually bought lunch at the food court in the mall.

‘So, tonight,’ Dell said, holding the bag out to Heidi, who maybe was ignoring her. When Heidi didn’t take the handbag, Dell put it over her shoulder in a smooth movement. If you didn’t live with her, if you weren’t used to them being apart, you might not have noticed it. It was like that – they all filled in each other’s missing bits. If one of them was tired the other one would keep them going. If one was unsure the other would put forward a good case. If one was thinking maybe alcohol was the answer the other one would remind them.

Peggy and Greta were pleased to be out of the house. Walking down the street, everything made more sense. Walking down the street towards the shop was something they did every day and something people saw them do every day. The cars drove past, surely some of the same cars that drove past yesterday. There was an order, a politeness, and Heidi was trying to disrupt it all.

‘What are you looking at?’ Greta asked.

‘Our bag,’ Peggy said.

Greta looked down at the bag and pulled it up so she could see it better. ‘Do we need another one?’

Peggy shrugged. ‘I feel like this bag is totally adequate. We shouldn’t waste money on that.’

‘We’d rather have a carrot,’ Greta said and hugged Peggy as they walked, smiling a bit. Peggy leaned into her shoulder.

‘A carrot seems like a more urgent priority at this juncture.’ They both laughed.

‘We could try some other bread,’ Greta said.

Peggy shrugged. ‘I quite like the bread we have.’

‘That book at home has a recipe for baking pita bread,’ Greta said.

‘Does home-baked bread last?’ Peggy asked. ‘Like a whole week?’

‘Probably,’ Greta said. The cars were coming past them faster now. They were about to cross a busy street. You had to take the lights across two lanes going one way and then stop at an island in the middle and wait for the lights again and walk over the two lanes going the other way. ‘Probably factory bread lasts longer,’ Greta said.

‘Factory is usually better,’ Peggy said. ‘For lasting length.’

‘Fuck, I’m hungry.’ They were passing a bagel shop. In the end they’d forgotten to have breakfast because of Heidi and Dell fighting with each other.

‘Hm,’ Peggy said.