Penny pulled out some Ben & Jerry’s from the freezer and flicked on The Notebook. She used a tablespoon to shovel the food into her mouth without tasting it, the sugar hit barely making her high. She didn’t want to be alone, but she didn’t want to be with anybody else, either. She watched Noah and Allie swinging into the river and riding bikes and snogging up against walls, and her whole relationship with Francesco played like a movie montage in her mind: how’d he’d looked that first morning in the café, the way it felt to see him at Dofi’s restaurant. She thought about him standing in stocking feet in her kitchen making brunch, kissing her by the reservoir, taking her to a hotel with a bag of toys. The endless chats, the midnight snacks, the way she felt more capable with him than without him.

I can’t say that I love you.

‘We’re staging an intervention.’

Penny had opened the door to the back step of the kitchen for her afternoon smoke to find her sister and Rima stood on the decking. She hadn’t been expecting them – had no idea they were coming at all – and so the first words out of her mouth had been, ‘What are you doing here?’ That had been Clementine’s response: that they were staging an intervention. Penny didn’t have a clue what that meant.

‘Are we okay to go through to the bar?’ Clementine asked, after giving Penny a big hug and taking a good look at her face. She refused to acknowledge her sister’s confusion, as if there would be an ‘all will be revealed’ moment if only Penny were patient enough.

‘Sure,’ Penny replied, shaking her head. ‘Go ahead.’

It was the only time in her life she hadn’t been pleased to see her sister.

‘Charlie!’ Clementine cheered, seeing them through the archway to the bottom bar. ‘Oh, I’m so pleased you’re here! I was hoping I could introduce you to Rima. Rima come here,’ she said, turning to her wife. ‘This is Charlie. We used to go to school together. Charlie—’ with this she turned back to Charlie, ‘this is Rima.’

‘It’s so nice to meet you,’ Charlie said, reaching a hand out. ‘I’m so pleased you came.’

Penny scowled. Had Charlie been expecting them?

‘Oh, no handshakes!’ Rima said. ‘Give me a hug!’

Everyone watched them wrap their arms around each other, smiling and making squealed exclamations. Penny couldn’t get a handle on what was unfolding. She couldn’t stand how happy everyone seemed, how okay they all were. Didn’t they know she was hurting? Didn’t they know not to be demonstrably happy in front of her breaking heart?