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JUNE 2024

She’d known it would happen eventually.

She and Will were pushing a cart through Sainsbury’s, wondering whether to risk a barbecue in early June, when she saw them, poring over the wine section. She froze, making Will almost bump into her from behind.

‘Whoops. Sorry!’ he said at their near collision. Then, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s them,’ she whispered, her voice so low he could barely hear.

‘Them being…’

‘Look!’ she nodded towards them. Will followed her eye.

‘Oh.’

It was Tom’s dad who looked up first, noticed them.

‘Will!’ he said, striding forward with his hand outstretched. He noticed Sophie behind the trolley. ‘And Sophie! Well, how nice.’

‘Hi,’ they both said in unison, sounding like a couple of scary twins from a creepy movie.

‘Julie, look who it is!’ Tom’s father said, his tone less subtle than he probably imagined. ‘It’s Will… and Sophie!’

Julie turned and forced a smile across her face. ‘Well, look at you both!’ she said. ‘Shopping together.’

‘Well, yeah,’ Sophie said.

Why did she feel that she was somehow in trouble? Julie must have known she’d move on eventually. And it wasn’t a betrayal of Tom. ‘Well, we’d better?—’

‘So how have you been?’ Tom’s father asked Will. ‘Still at that little boutique firm?’

‘Yeah, I prefer?—’

‘And Sophie! Still slaving away at the chalkface?’

‘Well, still teaching at least,’ Sophie replied with a weak smile.

‘Well, jolly good, jolly good.’

‘Thanks.’

‘And you two are…?’ Julie said, looking from one of them to the other, despite patently already knowing the answer to this question.

Will put his arm firmly around Sophie. ‘Yes, we’re together,’ he said. ‘Must be a couple of years now, give or take.’

‘Well,’ Julie said. ‘That’s marvellous.’ She turned to Sophie. ‘I’m so glad you were able to move on ! It really is fabulous news.’

‘I… um…’ Sophie stuttered.

‘Actually,’ Will said, his voice surprisingly stern, ‘she hasn’t moved on. Neither of us have. Not completely. But if you’re asking whether we’ve been able to find happiness together, then we have. I love this woman very, very much.’

‘Oh,’ Julie said. ‘I didn’t mean to imply…’

‘It’s fine,’ Sophie said. ‘Don’t worry. Nice to see you.’

She grabbed Will’s arm and steered him away down the aisle.

‘Sorry, was I too…’

‘No! No, it was great. Just… I feel sorry for her. Parents can’t move on, can they? Not at all.’

Will nodded. ‘I know. But she can’t treat you like that either.’

They moved off, Sophie keen to get out of the supermarket as soon as possible. But as they rounded the corner to the bakery aisle, they heard the clip of heels striking swiftly on the tiled floor.

They turned. Julie.

‘Sophie?’ she said, clasping her hands together.

‘Yes?’ Sophie braced herself for another snide comment.

Julie looked down at the tiled floor, her blonde hair falling forwards, revealing white roots that made her seem suddenly vulnerable.

‘I just wanted to say… Well, I’m sorry.’

‘It’s OK,’ Sophie said softly. ‘You don’t need to be.’

‘Yes,’ said Julie, reaching out and holding her arm briefly before dropping her hand. ‘I am. And I should be. Tom would be furious if he saw how I spoke to you then.’

‘I understand… It’s hard.’

‘Yes. But… hard for everyone. Hard for you.’

Sophie nodded, overcome. She tried to keep her mouth from faltering.

‘And look. I don’t blame you. Or resent you. You made Tom happy and… well, I couldn’t ask for more, as his mother. I just… when I see you… it becomes overwhelming.’

Sophie nodded. ‘I know,’ she said softly.

‘And I behave appallingly. But somehow, it’s the only thing I’m capable of in that moment.’

‘Really, I do understand. Honestly.’ Sophie felt her cheeks get hot. ‘It’s all right.’

‘It’s not. And I will try harder next time. I hope there will be a next time?’ her mother-in-law asked. Almost pleadingly.

‘I’m sure there will be.’

‘Poor woman,’ Will said as Tom’s mother turned and walked back to her husband.

‘Yeah. It’s impossible to think she’ll ever be OK. Not really.’

‘But are any of us OK when we lose someone?’

They pushed their trolley on, half browsing the shelves, half simply moving forward. ‘How do you think Tom would feel about our being together?’ Sophie asked.

He looked at her. ‘Hard to say. I’d like to think we’d have his blessing.’

‘Yeah.’

They walked on a little. ‘You know, Libby told me once that she’d always thought you and I would get together one day. Right at the beginning, you know? Before I got together with Tom.’

‘She did?’

‘Yeah.’

He looked at her. ‘Well, I always did have a soft spot for you, Sophie Baker.’

She smiled. ‘Sometimes I think…’ Then she shook her head.

‘You think…?’ he prompted.

‘Well, I wonder if Tom and I had… if things hadn’t happened, whether we’d be…’ she trailed off, unable to find the right words. ‘I love Tom, loved him. But it’s… sometimes it’s easier with you. Better.’

He gave her a quick squeeze. ‘We’ll never know,’ he said. ‘Who can say how Tom might have changed, or you if you’d been with him. What might have happened. We can only really know what’s good right now.’

‘How did you become so wise?’

‘I watch a lot of TikToks – there’s some good advice on there.’

‘Sounds very lofty.’

‘Does it? Maybe I should add that I watch them when on the toilet?’

‘That sounds much more like you,’ she said, giggling.

Tom’s parents passed the end of their aisle, heading for the till, their trolley full of wine.

‘And do you?’ he asked.

‘What?’

‘Do you think things are good right now?’ he asked.

‘Oh, I’d say so,’ she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. ‘Things are pretty good right now.’