Bonnie reads between the lines. ‘Messy break-up.’

He gives her a look to suggest that it’s not even worth mentioning how bad. ‘She got the car, I got the cat.’

‘Fair?’

‘Absolutely. I didn’t deserve the cat after how I’d treated her, but she knew how broken I was, how much I loved it, and let me keep her.’

Bonnie is suddenly hit with an image of Ben kicking back on the lounge with his cat on his lap. She finds herself smiling.

‘You’re thinking of me stroking my pussy, aren’t you?’ He smiles cheekily, pleased with himself for changing the mood.

Bonnie rolls her eyes at the potty joke. ‘You’re terrible.’ But still, she laughs.

Darcy guzzles water from her bottle as she follows Drew out of the gym and onto the street. She catches a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the glass window and inwardly cringes, her hand automatically reaching to her hair, which is splayed in a messy fountain on top of her head. She attempts to smooth it over, but there’s really nothing she can do. Her face is red, not a rosy glow, but bright red—harsh and ugly. A lacquer of sweat coats her skin.

‘I look awful,’ she complains, knowing she’s spending too much time with the appearance-obsessed girls on The One. Only a few days ago they did a segment of them doing yoga by the pool. The camera guys had been instructed to get plenty of boob and butt shots. The makeup department had even sprayed water on them to make it look like they were radiant with a light sweat.

‘Just shows you worked hard.’

Darcy frowns, knowing she would have been much more comforted had he simply said, ‘You look beautiful.’

Drew had driven down last night after finishing work. Darcy had hoped they could go out for a late dinner, but by the time she’d gotten home after the pool party and key ceremony he was already asleep on the lounge.

They are on their way to grab a coffee before picking up a few groceries when Darcy sees her.

‘Oh my God,’ she mutters. ‘Please let the earth swallow me whole.’

‘Is that Zoe Eggins?’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘Shit,’ Drew groans. He doesn’t find Zoe the most annoying person on the planet like Darcy does, but knows being in her company is always painful.

‘Uh-huh.’

Darcy watches as Zoe emerges from the crowd. She’s only wearing jeans and a black singlet but somehow she looks amazing, like her success is a glowing bubble of awesomeness.

Zoe catches her eye and Darcy watches her face as she registers. Her tight expression reworks itself into a fake smile.

‘Darcy Reed! My goodness, it’s been years.’

‘Years,’ Darcy confirms, wishing it had been decades instead. ‘How are you?’

‘Busy.’ Zoe pushes her sunglasses onto the top of her head. ‘Always busy.’