Hiya! a text from Stuart said. We got sorted with the electrician and he’s coming out this afternoon, just to keep you in the loop Also, I know you said you didn’t want to know if Francesco came by again, but he just did. And he asked if I would tell you. He said he won’t bother you again after this. I don’t want to be piggy in the middle but I think he really wants to sort out whatever happened. I won’t mention him again. But yeah. Now you know.

‘Gah!’ said Penny, out loud and to nobody.

She wasn’t an idiot. She was smart enough and had enough counselling during ‘The Cancer Years’ to know how her brain tried to protect her from herself. Her dad left when he knew her mum was dying. Mo had been a coward about her own treatment – he knew what had happened to her mother and, it seemed to Penny, got out whilst he could. It was heartless and weird and it made Penny question her own judgement. And as soon as she’d seen that prick kissing another woman, it was like confirmation in her brain that she was right – men weren’t to be trusted. It was a waste to have faith. She’d used the absolute last of hers on that prick and he’d ruined it, with whoever that woman had been, so that was that. It didn’t matter if that was the truth or if it was a convenient way to emotionally distance herself from him and what they’d had, she was out. Would never let him into her heart again.

She did miss him as her mate, though.

‘Well,’ said Charlie, when Penny explained her psychological theory. ‘Maybe that means you can have him back as your friend. Obviously only you know if that’s possible, and if it’s what you really want. But, maybe if he hurt you romantically but you still miss talking to him, you really could just be friends.’

‘Does that make me an idiot?’ sighed Penny. She felt like an idiot. Stuart’s text about him stopping by had really got under her skin. She wished it could be water off a duck’s back.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Charlie. ‘You’ve got to do what works for you, haven’t you?’

‘Right,’ said Penny. ‘I just … don’t have that many friends. Not in a weird way, it’s just after I got sick, and having already moved around so much like chefs do … There was something he said to me that I think of all the time. That before anything else, we were buddies.’