‘Hi,’ croaked Bunny in a small voice. There was a large bandage around her head and a surgical dressing taped to one cheek, her eyes were puffy and red and there was a sore-looking red graze on her chin. Normally she was gorgeous, Bunny, with her blonde hair carefully styled and her make-up beautifully applied, but today there wasn’t so much as a lick of mascara on her lashes, and her hair lay clumpy and tousled against the pillow. She reminded Robyn of a broken doll, lying there so still and quiet, the white sheets pulled up almost to her chin. ‘Thank you.’

‘Poor you, what a nightmare,’ Paula said, perching in a plastic chair by the bed. ‘Mum and Dad send their love, by the way. They’re back home and haven’t argued once yet, apparently, so I think it’s happy days Chez Mortimer again – touch wood. But enough about them, how are you?’

‘Did Dave . . . Is he here?’ Bunny asked.

‘Um . . . no,’ said Robyn, glancing round as if he might appear from behind the curtain. ‘I mean, he didn’t come in with us, no, but he might be on his way,’ she added, as the other woman’s face crumpled.

‘He texted everyone last night to let us know how you were doing,’ Paula said. ‘He’s told your boss at the café as well, by the way, so don’t worry about that. Have you got to stay in here long?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Bunny replied, but in such a subdued voice she almost sounded as if she didn’t care either way. ‘Did Dave say . . . anything else?’

‘Just that he’d been in to see you and that you felt pretty crap, but that it could have been worse,’ Paula replied. ‘Has he been back today?’

‘No,’ said Bunny, and Robyn saw, to her dismay, that tears were forming in Bunny’s eyes. ‘I don’t know if he will.’

‘I’m sure he will!’ Paula cried in surprise. ‘He doesn’t get off until five-thirty usually, does he? We’re only here this early because my four o’clock viewing cancelled on me at the last minute and my boss said I didn’t have to come back in. Luke’s been roped into looking after Robyn’s kids, so we thought we’d pop on over.’

Bunny blinked at the barrage of information delivered in one single breath. ‘Thank you,’ she said listlessly.