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plans?”
    “Tonight? I don’t think there’s anything on telly. Do you
want to go out to the cinema?”
    “No, I didn’t mean tonight. You’ve been here a week or so,
now. Actually, two weeks. Have you really given up your job in London?”
    “I have. My heart hadn’t been in it for a while. Um …” She
tailed off and stirred her spoon around the bowl. “This stew is ace, by the
way. Really good. Um. And when you left London, I realised that we all get
stuck in the same old routines just out of habit, you know? Work wasn’t going
as well as it could have done. You know … And I did some soul searching and I
picked up some amazing books and I started to learn about how we can ask the
universe for what we want and as long as our intentions are good, we’ll get
what we ask for!”
    “I don’t believe that for one minute. I spent my entire
teenage years asking to be two inches taller. The universe completely ignored
me.”
    Francine waved a hunk of bread in the air. “Oh, we don’t
always get exactly what we think we want but we do always get what we need!
Anyway it’s just the start of this journey for me. You prompted me to begin it.
Who knows where I’ll end up?”
    Penny swallowed her sarcastic reply of “far away from here,
and soon.” Instead, she said, “I am delighted for you, but you can’t just jump
into decisions like this. I planned my retirement and my move for ages. I
carefully considered where I was going to live, and how my budget would
stretch.”
    Francine looked quizzical, her narrow eyes even thinner as
she pondered. “I thought you came up here because you were trying to reconnect
with your impulsive, freer younger self?”
    “Well, yes. But in a calm and rational way.”
    “But–”
    Penny knew that Francine’s argument would probably be
justified, and she was grateful when someone knocked at the front door. Kali
launched herself from her spot under the table. She’d been hoping for stray
crumbs to fall, but the potential excitement of a visitor trumped even the pull
of food, and she hurled herself at the front door, her tail wagging so much
that her hindquarters were making circles.
    “Back! Sit.”
    If Kali was able to sit quietly while Penny opened the
door, she would be rewarded by being allowed to greet the visitor. Kali knew
this, but her impulse control was a work in progress. She managed to stay in
the sit position for about four seconds before the sight of Cath was too much
for her, and she lunged past Penny.
    “Oh, gerroffme,” Cath laughed as she tickled Kali’s ears.
    “She thinks her name is ‘gerroffme’ because that’s what
everyone says when they see her. Come on through. We’re just finishing our
dinner.”
    “Tea.”
    “Dinner. I still have my southern standards. I’ll make you
a cup of tea, though.”
    “Don’t worry. You finish up, and I’ll get the kettle on
myself,” Cath said. “Ah – hi, there.”
    “Francine, this is Cath. Cath, Francine.”
    Francine grinned brightly. “You’re the police woman! I’ve
heard about you. It’s so nice to see you.”
    “I’m a detective constable,” Cath said.
    Francine didn’t register the correction. She got to her
feet and scooped up a tray from the worktop. “I’ll take my dinner through to
the other room and let you two chat,” she said. “I’m under Penny’s feet far too
much as it is.”
    She disappeared, and the door shut firmly behind her. Cath
busied herself at the sink while Penny finished her stew. She hadn’t expected
Francine to be so understanding. She thought she’d be prising the woman out of
the conversation.
    Unless she was listening at the door.
    But she dismissed the thought. Francine was in-your-face
honest. She wouldn’t hide behind doors.
    Unlike Penny. She acknowledged that in many respects,
Francine was annoying her just because she was the sort of nice person that
Penny thought she herself ought to be … but wasn’t.
    “What’s up?” Cath said. “You’re