He hadn’t been able to bring himself to ask her to stop calling him babe. It would come across as petty, like he was doing it to get one back at her. She called most of her friends babe, she didn’t mean anything by it. But it was what she’d called him back when they were together, so it was hard to hear.

‘I’m good. Great. Yeah, doing really great. You?’

‘Same! But hey, listen, there’s something I need to talk to you about. Something important. Can we meet? Friday night, if you’re free?’

That little jolt in his stomach struck again. She wanted to talk. About something important. What if he was wrong about there being no hope for him? What if she had changed her mind?

He had to keep his voice steady when he replied, had to clear his throat to stop his tone from rising to an unnatural level.

‘Sure. I’ve got some things to shift around, but I can make that work.’

‘Oh, are you certain? I don’t want to put you out.’

The truth was he had nothing going on this weekend apart from Netflix and a couple of beers on the couch.

‘It’s cool, don’t stress. Cross Street Bar okay with you? Seven?’

‘Perfect. I’ll see you then.’

He hung up the phone and took a few deep breaths. Don’t get ahead of yourself, Daz. She wants to talk. It could be anything. But still, she’d said ‘I’ll see you then’ not ‘We’ll see you then’.

The last few times he’d caught up with Charlotte, Steph had always been by her side. Maybe this time it would just be the two of them.

He checked the time on his phone. 5 pm. Time to finish work. He snorted. That was an absolute joke; as if he’d achieved a single thing sitting in front of his computer all day today. He may as well have chucked his board in the back of his car and gone surfing at Freshwater Beach instead.

Maybe tomorrow would bring inspiration.

*

Andrea

‘Andrea?’ came a small voice from the other side of the door. ‘Yes, it’s me, sweetie.’

She heard the clunk of the lock turning and then the door swung open. Andrea looked down at Violet, her six-year-old neighbour. She was slight with bright blue eyes and wispy blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Violet wiped her nose on the sleeve of her school shirt and moved back to let Andrea in.

‘Is she here?’ Andrea asked.

Violet shook her head.

‘Oh honey, how long have you been alone?’

She avoided eye contact. ‘Little while.’

‘Are you hungry?’

She looked shy for a moment, then she nodded.

‘All right, let’s see if we can find you a snack.’