‘Oh, hi,’ Penny said, as if she just happened to be sitting there at a quarter to nine in the morning, as if she hadn’t been looking up school times on the internet, as if she hadn’t spent forty minutes trying to cover the marks on her neck and her puffy eyes. ‘How are you?’ ‘Good.’ Kate smiled. ‘Though I could do with one of them.’ She nodded to Penny’s coffee and, yes, she’d love to join her and, yes, Penny thought, it was another woman she needed for this and this link was thanks to Ethan. ‘How’s work?’ Kate asked, taking a seat. ‘I’m taking some time off.’ She told her why and Penny realised that Kate probably already knew. ‘Did Ethan tell you?’ ‘Do I have to answer that?’ ‘No.’ Penny shook her head. ‘Then I won’t.’ Kate had been there and knew, though she couldn’t have a second coffee, not at the café anyway because the baby needed feeding.
