‘Is it volunteer work?’ It looked like Zara was reading the questions from her computer, but they suspected that what was on the screen had nothing to do with them. ‘Do you like it?’

They shrugged.

‘Yeah,’ Peggy said, looking at Greta, but neither of them looked convinced.

‘Do you like retail?’ Zara asked.

They both nodded. Did they, though? They were unsure. They both hoped Zara wouldn’t ask what they had done before they went to treatment. Did she know about that? Had their case manager sent her all the details? Greta and Peggy breathed faster. Maybe this was a bad idea.

‘You’re not under any obligation to take up anything we offer you,’ Zara said. ‘But we have some pretty great courses. We have a one-day course that helps you work out what job you want to do and what job you’d be best at. Usually’ – she laughed a little – ‘there’s some crossover.’ Then she laughed properly. Greta and Peggy did not laugh. ‘Would that be a good place to start?’ Zara asked.

Greta and Peggy nodded, but they wanted to shrug again. Was it a good place to start? They had no idea but realised it was probably good to show enthusiasm.

‘It’s always good to start where you are,’ Zara said. ‘First things first, that sort of thing. And you know, employment is pretty great.’

They all nodded, then. Agreed. Agreed.

Zara looked at the computer. ‘There’s a course in about two weeks. It’s called “What colour is your parachute?” Have you heard of the book?’

Neither of them had heard of the book.

‘It’s a good course,’ Zara said. ‘Shall I book you in?’

‘Yeah,’ Greta and Peggy said together.

‘Do you have a diary?’ Zara asked.

Greta and Peggy did not have a diary.

Zara wrote out the time, the date and the place on a business card and handed it to Greta, who put it in their wallet, in the pocket meant for credit cards. Greta and Peggy didn’t have any credit cards anymore.

Everyone said thanks and nice to meet you, and Greta and Peggy left, saying thanks to the receptionist, and that was it. It seemed good. It seemed like that was a good outcome and the course sounded good. Soon they would know what they wanted to do and what they would be good at and whether there was any crossover between those two things.

They weren’t going in to the store today. They asked if they could give it a miss because they had the appointment and by the time they got there it would be almost time to go home, and Dorrit said that was fine. There were other volunteers who were keen to come in and learn the ropes. There was a roster. Which was fine. Greta and Peggy couldn’t expect to work there every day. Other people wanted work experience.