“I’d love one, too,” Karlie said, shifting in Kate’s lap where she’d been plonked for the better half of twenty minutes. Kate grinned at Susan as she readjusted her niece in her lap. Karlie was tiny for her age, but Kate was halfway to pins and needles.

Susan bent low to pick up the empty juice cup Karlie had left behind at lunch. “Why don’t you stay the night? No point rushing back to Lords,” she said. “Unless Tilly’s waiting, of course.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What’s what supposed to mean?”

“That comment, about Tilly. That ‘of course’…”

Susan quirked an eyebrow. “I didn’t mean anything. I’m just suggesting that, if you don’t have anybody waiting on you, you might as well stay the night. These days, you don’t stay over half as much as you used to and we miss having you.”

Kate licked her lips. Her mother was right. There wasn’t any point in going back to Lords. Staying at her mother’s was a much better option than spending the night alone in the cottage consumed by thoughts of Tilly. With the next day being a staff development day for the following year, as a temporary teacher who wouldn’t be returning next year, Kate—like Tilly—had the day off. She didn’t have to be at Mornington until six on Monday evening. Who knew, maybe Tilly wouldn’t even be home before then.

She hadn’t told anyone about the engagement party—not even Beccy. What would it imply to her family to know she wasn’t invited? Her mother would certainly want to know what that was about, and Kate didn’t have the confidence to go over it with anybody. What would her family think of her if they knew that her relationship with Tilly was a whole lot less innocent than it seemed? Hey Mum, I’m having an emotional affair with the woman who used to be my best friend. You know, the girl who was fixated on becoming a nun? Tilly, yes, that’s right. Tilly who’s engaged to a widowed Anglican vicar in Mornington.

“Okay,” she said simply. “I’ll stay.”

“Good. I’ll change the pullout.”

Kate looked across the carpet to where a forgotten pile of screws lay beside her phone and wallet.

She picked up the instruction manual. “Karls, can you go over there and grab me a screw that looks like this?”

Karlie squinted at the page. “Okay.”

She bit back a groan as Karlie climbed out of her lap, seizing the opportunity to stretch her legs. Hallelujah, praise be to Jesus…

“Aunty Kate?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Your phone is flashing.”

Tilly and Declan stood beneath the porch light, deep in conversation, but as Kate drew to a stop, they glanced toward the van.

The narrow street was so packed with visitors that Kate was left with no option but to double park. Buzzing with the awareness that she was being watched from the porch, Kate got out, walked around the van and leaned back against the passenger door. Her sneakers sank into the damp grass of the nature strip. She wanted to feel pity for Tilly, really, she did, but Tilly’s text kept racing through her mind, filling her with a sense of ungodly relief. Kate, I need you to come and get me, please.