I can’t believe I’ve buried this feeling all year, she texted Clementine as she finished her coffee. I’m ready, she said. My time here is almost up, and I know what I want next. I don’t care about a man. I want that baby!

22

Hey friend, Penny typed into her phone. She couldn’t stand that he was out there, mad at her. She needed resolution. Surely she could make him forgive her – surely he wouldn’t ignore her forever.

Clementine had gently suggested that maybe he hadn’t ever been a friend, but Penny didn’t know where that left her now. She was desperate to make things right.

She deleted what she’d typed.

I miss you, she wrote instead, before deleting that, too.

Knowing he existed in the world, cross and hurt, weighed her down. What could she do?

Nothing.

She pulled up her web browser, instead. Having a baby as a single mum, she typed in, settling in to scroll through the results.

23

Running late, Thomas’s text said after Penny had gathered everything they needed. Meet after instead?

Penny held the phone in her hand and took a deep breath. She hated that he’d ducked out of helping her without even saying sorry. There was a bees nest in the car park that needed a special powder sprinkled over it to encourage the bees to leave and make a home somewhere else, which was important because Penny couldn’t have a bees nest outside as it continued to get warmer. A thought barraged its way into her brain: Francesco would already have done it.

Penny sighed. She shouldn’t have been relying on Thomas in the first place, since she was about to break off whatever they were to each other.

‘Look what the cat dragged in,’ she said, when Thomas finally arrived. She’d taken care of the bees nest herself, spraying it with the industrial strength stuff she’d got online and not suffering a single sting in the process. She looked ridiculous doing it – just in case, she’d had not an inch of skin on show with her joggers tucked into her socks and gloves pulled up over her long sleeves. She’d even wrapped an old scarf around her head, leaving room only for her eyes and nose, and held it all in place with a woolly hat.

‘Ahhh come on,’ Thomas said. ‘I’ve only just got back. Don’t be like that.’ He looked at Penny pleadingly, his eyes big and adorable. He knew she wasn’t really mad, and that even if she was he’d soften her up in seconds. He was just too charming.