Page 49 of The Second Chance Bus Stop

London

is the time she entered the world.

‘You will have a birthday week. Seven days of dedicated celebration. There will be seven cakes,’ Blade promises, laughing

at her choice of compensation.

‘And balloons?’

‘A lot of balloons.’

‘Good. How are we so different? You won’t even allow me to sing Happy Birthday to you.’

‘I have no idea. But thank you, Zara.’

Honestly—the things Zara does for her best friend.

She sighs and refills her mug from the filter coffee pot, hoping it’s still somewhat lukewarm, and settles down to tackle the Swedish name-change records Blade sent over.

There are a lot of Svens who have opted for a different name, it turns out.

Facebook is a gift, and Zara ticks men off fairly easily, only having to send a couple of messages to confirm.

Edith has gone over to the neighbour’s, something that is happening more and more often.

Pushba told her the children like having someone to talk to when she’s busy cooking or cleaning.

Zara is four hours in when she finds him. Everything matches, everything Edith has said. She presses Dial on Blade’s name.

‘Hey. I think I found our guy.’