‘Well, that’s how it sounds,’ she grumbles. ‘But seriously, take it from someone who knows, if it’s important to you then make sure you get on with it. I figured Shaun would come around to the idea of a baby, but I had no idea how scarred he was from the whole fertility rollercoaster with Rebecca. He’s just not interested now.’ Lily speaks bluntly, her sleek blonde hair swinging around her pretty face, but Oli detects the disorientation beneath, the sense that she took her eye off the ball and misread the play, stuffing up an easy catch.

‘I’m not sure it’s that important to me,’ Oli says quietly. ‘Or to Dean.’

Lily swallows a giant gulp of wine and looks hard at Oli. ‘That’s not what you said at my bachelorette party.’

Oli cringes. What a disaster that night was. It ended with her vomiting repeatedly after consuming what felt like gallons of vodka punch. She had felt so disingenuous, the heralded sister who barely knew Lily anymore. Meeting stranger after stranger who told her Lily was a dream friend. Desperate to fit in, Oli uncharacteristically threw back glass after glass. She remembers laughing with Lily’s friends at a local bar, then being deeply engrossed in conversations in Lily’s kitchen and later in the lounge. The night culminated with a handful of women standing around a hastily made fire in the backyard at dawn, writing down their dreams and yelling them into the sky before throwing them in the flames, which was apparently a karmic wishing well.

‘Things change,’ Oli says dismissively.

Lily arches an eyebrow. ‘That was less than a year ago.’

Oli’s cheeks flush. ‘Well, if I remember correctly, once children were off the table, you were going to sell this place and live overseas.’

Lily fixes her gaze on the bench. She doesn’t speak, and Oli worries that she is about to cry. ‘I’d still like to live in Europe at some point,’ she says, ‘but Shaun’s work is going great guns so we’re staying put for now. I guess that’s what marriage is all about, right? Compromise.’ It’s impossible to miss the irony in her tone.

‘Lil …’

‘It’s fine. I’m honest with myself about where I stand. Shaun and I talk about it. We’re getting a puppy. And a cat.’

‘Okay. That sounds good.’

‘Come on, talk to me. I know you want to have a baby. Is it Dean? He doesn’t want more kids?’

Oli closes her eyes and pictures the twins, their faces so much like their mother’s. ‘It’s not that. It’s complicated. The girls have been through a lot, and we’re all still getting used to each other. It’s not easy slotting into their lives.’

Lily snorts. ‘Nothing is easy, Ol.’ She eats another biscuit. ‘Mum’s worried about you. She thinks you’re shutting her out.’