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Ash’s face crumpled in concern. “Oh no, poor George.”

“When do you think he’ll be able to get out of here?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll need to speak to his doctor. I think they’re still waiting for a psych evaluation to make sure?—”

“But you said yourself there’s a waiting list. Can’t he be seen as an outpatient?”

“Alice, I think they need to make sure that he wasn’t trying to hurt himself.”

“He wasn’t.”

“But you don’t know that for sure, do you?”

“I do, Ash. He wasn’t.”

Ash sighed, her kind eyes scanning Alice’s face. “Look, I’ll have a word and see what I can do, but no promises. There are protocols and?—”

“What if I could help?”

Ash tilted her head, her silky black hair falling forward from behind her ear. Alice yearned to tuck it back into place. But they hadn’t finished their chat yet and things between them were fuzzy. Warm and fuzzy, but still fuzzy.

“I could speak to Jeremy.”

“Your old boss? Fran’s husband?”

“Yeah, he specialises in bereavement therapy.”

“Do you really want to be asking favours from someone who?—”

“I think they owe me a favour, don’t you?”

Ash held up her hands. “It’s up to you, but I’m not sure you should put yourself in that situation. Like you said, they’re manipulative and messed up.”

“Well, if it helps George, it’ll be worth it.”

“Just be careful, okay?” Ash rubbed Alice’s arm and a surge of heat ran through her. Ash nodded to the door. “Your tea will be getting cold.”

“Do you mind if I stay with him for a while? I think it’s helping him to talk through things with someone.”

“No, why would I mind?”

“Oh, just because earlier… you said we’d finish our chat.”

Ash blushed. “Oh yeah, that can wait. It wasn’t important.”

Alice’s face must have revealed her disappointment, as Ash quickly picked up the thread.

“Shit, I’m really not good at this. I mean, it is important, but it’ll keep. George needs you now, and I start my shift soon, so… are you free to meet me for lunch tomorrow?”

The smile Alice felt lifting her lips was the opposite of playing it cool, but she couldn’t hide it. “Yeah, I’m free,” she said, in the hope Ash might finally tell her what she’d been trying to say.

19

LAYING AN EGG

Alice checked the directions on her phone as she strolled through the park, which hummed with activity. She looked up from the map to where the dot on her screen stood in all three dimensions. A beautiful café with intricate black and white ironwork framing its eaves, like a fancy Victorian bandstand. Alice turned and half-expected Dick Van Dyke to pop up and sing a cheerful song amongst the tulips.

All the outside chairs and tables were full, so Alice waited in the shade of a willow tree. She pulled out her phone for something to do with her hands and resumed her research on Kegel exercises. After scanning an article called ‘The Big Squeeze’, she clicked a link on technique.