It’s been nearly a week since Bonnie and Ty last saw each other at the key ceremony, when he’d abruptly ended their one-on-one time, so she knows it’s only a matter of time before Darcy suggests they readdress the whole ‘how many kids do you want’ subject. Her neck immediately stiffens.

‘You took all these?’ Ty’s looking at the canvases covering each wall space.

‘Yeah.’ She nods, quite proud. She hasn’t been in her studio for over nine weeks and it feels good to be back; she can feel herself relaxing. ‘That’s my sister and her family.’ Bonnie points out one of the canvases.

‘Cute kids.’

Bonnie nods, looking at her niece and nephews. She’s missed them but feels her body tense in anticipation, assuming the ‘kids’ conversation is coming.

But Darcy doesn’t say anything, and Ty takes a few steps, admiring all her work. He stops at one piece. ‘Wow, that’s awesome.’

Relieved for the moment, Bonnie smiles at the photograph. She’d taken it a couple of years ago now, but it is still one of her favourites. It was taken early morning on the beach, with breathtaking light, the sun bursting up from the horizon as six very flexible women positioned themselves into different yoga poses.

‘I didn’t join in,’ she jokes, referring to their conversation where she’d admitted she didn’t like yoga. But Ty barely smiles in return. Instead his mind seems preoccupied as he continues to stare at the photo in front of them. Bonnie swallows hard, thinking she may have made a mistake in mentioning that conversation, the same conversation where Ty had spoken about his ex.

Bonnie finds herself looking to Darcy, but she has her head tilted to the side, her clipboard clutched in her hand as she stands just away from Ben. It doesn’t appear that Darcy is concerned or going to offer any direction, so Bonnie decides to take matters into her own hands. ‘This is where I do all my editing,’ she says, pulling his attention away from the wall and instead to her large desk. ‘And where I eat way too many takeaway meals.’

Ty takes a few steps towards her desk. ‘Wow, this is a beauty.’ He bends down to inspect it more closely. ‘What a piece of work.’

Bonnie shines with pride. The oversized desk had cost her a fortune, but she’d fallen in love with it from the moment she saw it. And she loves that it is the centrepiece of her studio. She watches as Ty takes in the space, which is all so familiar to her even though she hasn’t sat at this desk for a couple of months. She sees Ty reach for a book, one she hasn’t seen before. He picks it up, turns the cover over.

‘Did you like it?’ he asks.