Page 28 of The Chemistry Test

Cam

I want to say the poster is going well. But the truth is, it’s not even going. Penny’s had other deadlines that have had to come first and I’ve been trying to get the stupid fostering company to give Tabby a chance at being adopted with her sister.

I’m grateful to have had another two weeks with her after she hit the minimum adoption age, but I’m still gutted she won’t be re-homed with Callie.

Her new family live in North Wales and I’m dropping her off in just under two weeks.

Now, as I sit on the sofa outside the seminar room with Penny, it seems like it might be a problem.

‘Okay, I have deadlines until the twenty-ninth, so I can’t really do much until then,’ she says. ‘And our deadline is at the end of reading week.’

I open the calendar on my phone again to check when the end of reading week is (which should actually be called writing – or better yet – cramming week, since it’s a lecture-free week to study or get assignments done).

‘That’s the third. And I’m going to be driving down to drop Tabby off on the thirtieth, staying the night, and then getting back late on the thirty-first.’

She winces at that. Actually winces. ‘I have this thing where I always have to submit the night before as well, in case I’m too ill on the day to do it.’

‘If you’re ill, I’ll do it.’

‘What if we’re both ill?’

Highly unlikely, but I know she has her reasons for thinking that way, so I check the calendar again. ‘So, that leaves us the first and second of November.’

‘There’s no way we can do it. Unless’ – she bites her lip – ‘I come with you to drop Tabby off?’

It’s not a bad idea. ‘Would you actually do that?’

She thinks about it. ‘I would, it’s just ...’

‘We can think of something else if not,’ I say, even though I definitely mean her when I say ‘we’.

‘I don’t know if I can sit up in a car for that long,’ she says, looking at the floor.

‘Oh.’ There were so many things I thought she might be worried about, but that wasn’t one of them. ‘Is that all you’re worried about?’

She peeks up at me sheepishly, making her eyelashes look even longer than they usually do. ‘I’ve got all kinds of problems and sitting up is one,’ she raps (if you can even call it that), giving me a half-smile, half-grimace. She couldn’t be any more cheesy if she tried.

‘I have quite a few Air Miles. We could use them?’ I say. ‘It won’t take anywhere near as long if we do most of it by plane.’

She nods and there’s a flicker of something in her eyes, but I don’t know what.

‘As long as you bring a card as well,’ she says, holding out her hand. ‘For my birthday, on the thirtieth.’

We shake on it. ‘Deal.’

As easy as that. And now we’re firmly back on track, I can’t believe I ever questioned it. I mean, this is Penny we’re talking about. Professional problem solver and lecture-loving Penny; the human embodiment of where there’s a will, there’s a way.