Danika laughs. “I slept okay considering the bed is so awful. I vote for the tip.”
“Next time, use Bella’s bed,” Kim says. “Unless I’ve replaced the sofa bed before then.” She pulls two mugs out of a cupboard. “Tea or coffee?”
“Coffee, please.” Danika watches as Kim presses buttons on the pod machine. She holds up two pods, and Danika picks the smoother blend.
“That was a fun night,” Kim says once the coffee is hissing and spitting into the mug.
“It was,” Danika agrees. “I love that wine bar.” She shoots Kim a rueful smile. “I think I enjoyed their fine wine a little too much.”
Kim nudges her companionably as she passes on her way to the fridge for the milk. “We both did. But that’s allowed. You weren’t drunk or out of order.”
“Good,” Danika says. “I haven’t been need-two-Panadol-and-a-Berocca drunk since university. I don’t want to start again now.”
Kim hands her a coffee and shunts over the milk. “Breakfast?”
“Thank you,” Danika says. “If it’s not too much trouble.”
They’re being polite, friendly, with no awkwardness. She breathes easier.
“I was going to have a veggie omelette. Mushrooms, tomatoes, basil, some feta cheese.”
“That sounds great,” Danika says. “Really tasty.”
“Bella insists on more cheese, but even she likes it.” Kim gets busy, putting a pan on the stove, washing and slicing mushrooms, pulling basil leaves from the stem.
In a few minutes, she slides a perfect omelette over to Danika, then prepares her own.
Danika slices it. It’s as good as it looks. She adds a sprinkle of Tabasco, and it’s perfect.
Their phones beep simultaneously with a text.
“Mirza,” Danika says. She reads it out. “Everyone—even me—had an energetic and late night. Girls sleeping. No rush to collect.”
“That’s good,” Kim says. She tilts her head and regards Danika. “Fancy a walk and a coffee on the way over there?”
“That sounds good. Do you have anything in mind?”
“Karkarook Park is more or less on the way. I like the path around the lake. There’s a nice coffee place in Rowville afterwards.”
“I know the park.” Danika nods. “I used to go there with Chr—” She jerks to a halt. Somehow, with their budding friendship, it seems…unnecessary…to mention Chris.
And she doesn’t want to.
They amble around the lake at Karkarook Park. The paved path is busy with walkers, families, joggers, and gambolling dogs.
Danika watches a springer spaniel slip its leash and leap into the lake with a splash. Waterbirds hustle out of its way. “Cami desperately wants a dog. I’ve agreed in principle, but done nothing about it.”
“What would you get?”
“Something small to medium size. A puppy, I guess, so we have it for a long time. Our little family needs no more loss and heartbreak.”
Kim moves closer and slides an arm around Danika’s waist. “You can’t control things like that.”
Her arm rests lightly, but there’s a warmth and reassuring solidity to it. “I know. But we can shorten the odds. I always thought we’d get a rescue, though. A senior dog, maybe.”
The spaniel emerges, dripping, from the lake and runs over to its owner and shakes. Water droplets fly everywhere, but the owner just laughs and recaptures it, tightening the harness and refastening the leash.
The morning sunlight warms Danika’s shoulders. It’s relaxing, walking in the sun with a friend, knowing there’s coffee—and maybe cake—to come. That their daughters are safe and looked after by Mirza. That soon, Cami will be in the car with Danika, no doubt chattering away a hundred words a minute about Bella and Sylvie, how late they stayed up—“All night!” Danika guesses—and what they had for dinner, for breakfast, for a morning snack.
