‘Is this okay?’ she said, and he moaned as she touched him, finally revealing himself to be capable of being unnerved.

‘Yes,’ he sighed.

16

‘Oh Sharon,’ Penny said, as she nursed a coffee in the low winter sun, hoping to be brought back to life with vitamin D and caffeine. Her head hurt. Her shoulders ached. Her ego was – well. Not quite bruised, but definitely feeling feelings. Why on earth had she carried on that way with the wine merchant? A drunken bathroom encounter was one thing, but with a man she technically worked with was far beyond the limits she’d ever placed on sex and dating for herself. One doesn’t shit where one eats, as the old proverb goes. ‘Sharon, I totally shat where I eat!’ she cringed down the phone via voice note. ‘I don’t know what I was thinking! Can you call me after drop-off? I need to talk this one out.’

Sharon FaceTimed at 9:01 exactly, from the nursery gates.

‘So who’s this wine supplier, then? You’ve got your knickers in a right twist.’

‘Seriously,’ said Penny. ‘It was so stupid of me.’

‘Hey – that’s my friend you’re beating up over there!’ Sharon said. ‘Go easy on her.’

‘I’m an adult woman who runs two businesses and I had a quickie in a bathroom with a man I should have known better than—’

‘Oh come off it,’ Sharon interrupted. ‘That’s the prerogative of an adult woman. You can do whatever you want! Bloody own it, Pen.’

‘I feel ashamed.’

‘Well you should feel ashamed that you feel ashamed. Come on, it’s a new decade, not the turn of the last century. Send the man a thank you note and move on. Jeez.’

‘A thank you note,’ laughed Penny. ‘Sure. Dear Priyesh,’ she said, putting on a funny voice. ‘It was incredibly kind of you to join me in the men’s bathroom at the staff Christmas party, and I found you incredibly obliging as I tossed you off. What larks!’

‘Well, I mean, you’re joking but it’s not far off, is it? It’s precisely because you’re a grown-up you need to acknowledge it happened, but doing so doesn’t mean it has to happen again. And I promise you – what you don’t want to do is pray it all goes away and then be caught off guard when he’s at the pub for your next order, or sat at the table next to you when you go out for dinner somewhere with that Thomas bloke. Oh, hold on.’

Penny felt woozy as she watched the camera on Sharon’s phone move from her face to the sky, which, in several jiggly movements then became a ceiling. Penny could hear voices and then the camera moved again and Sharon stood at the counter of Bridges with Stuart beside her.