‘Give me the last bite,’ she says, grabbing the end of the doughnut from me. I lick the stickiness from the ends of my fingers.

After we eat doughnuts, we always walk to the pet shop on the top floor. It’s right up in the corner of the shopping centre. Dad knows I’ve been desperate to have a dog since forever, but he’s a rescue-dog guy, not a breed-dog guy. If we ever do get one, there’s no way he’s going to buy a fancy breed when he could save some abandoned dog from death. It’s the second-hand thing again; I totally get it, but Bridge and I secretly love looking at the dogs in the pet shop anyway.

Rounding the corner, I see Ellie leaning against the window. She’s breaking all our pet-shop lingering rules by not actually looking at the animals. Instead, she’s looking out for us. I don’t understand it. Bridge and I drool over those dogs, imagining which ones we’ll take home. I can tell Bridge is thinking the same thing, because she whispers, ‘Doesn’t she like dogs?’

I laugh at the horror in her voice. ‘Not like we do. But I’m sure we can teach her.’

Scanning faces, Ellie sees us heading in her direction and waves happily. My stomach lurches. Being the middle person between two people who don’t know each other well makes me anxious. What if it all goes horribly wrong? I stop dead in the middle of the shopping centre, making people dodge around me. Bridget stops, too, and I can imagine the questioning look on her face.

‘Hey, Clem,’ says Ellie as she walks up to hug me. ‘I’ve missed you!’

She’s so much taller than me that it’s all awkward, like someone’s parent is hugging me. Bridge surprises me by giving Ellie a tentative hug, too, and then the two of them turn and face me like I’m in charge.

‘Hi, El,’ I manage. ‘I love your hair,’ I add, noticing it’s been cut to her shoulders. She looks so much older without her ponytail.

‘Thanks. Not sure I do. Dad thought it would be a good idea to get a haircut before school starts.’

I know how hard it is for Ellie now that she just has one parent. That leads me to think about Mum coming home, which is the last thing I want to do right now, so I make a decision about how this day is going to play out and force a huge smile for Ellie. ‘How was your holiday?’

Ellie grins and I notice how brown she is. ‘I learned how to surf!’

‘Cool. I’d love to surf,’ I tell her.

‘You’ll have to come next time. You’d learn really quickly. It took me ages because I’m so tall,’ she says.

‘No danger there,’ I say, trying to be funny.