It had been ten days since Evan had left. Ten days that had felt like a lifetime and yet no time at all. In the evenings, her mind had been buried under lists for the giving tree and extra lesson planning for school. She’d managed to keep the tears at bay half the time, but when they came, they came thick and fast and unstoppable.

‘Maybe I’ll have to pluck up the courage to ask him,’ Nina replied, her tone resigned as if she was facing a terrible fate.

‘Don’t sound so glum,’ Cynthia interrupted. ‘It’s not like you’re asking him to pull his teeth out, just to go on a date with you. You can’t be that bad at dating, surely?’

‘I don’t know. I once went on a date with a bloke from Witchbury and he spent the whole time telling me he’d worried I was too good for him but was happy to see I wasn’t and then listed all the things I had wrong with me, including my hair being too curly.’ She stared at the ceiling as if replaying the event. ‘It was quite an extensive list.’

Silence fell as Bella, Caro and Cynthia’s mouths fell open.

‘That did not happen?’ Caro asked.

‘Oh, it really did.’

‘So this is what I’ve got to look forward to?’ Bella joked, but the reality scared her. She might have to develop that thick skin Evan told her about after all.

‘Nonsense,’ Cynthia said sternly. ‘You just need to find a nice man and go to the pub; that’s how we did it in the old days. Nice and simple. Easy-peasy.’

Nina smiled fondly at Bella’s mum. ‘I won’t tell you about the time my date took me to McDonald’s because that’s all he liked to eat.’

‘No, don’t.’ Bella covered her ears. At least she wouldn’t be thinking about dating for a long time to come. If ever. She couldn’t imagine feeling anything other than pain for a long while yet. She picked up the stack of giving tree forms again. ‘Now, anyone know where we can get a real-life pony because that’s what Hannah asked me to put on a tag for her today?’

‘Sorry, no.’ Cynthia turned to Nina. ‘You haven’t got a date story involving horses have you, Nina?’

‘Funny you should say that—’