Broken Soup. Jenny Valentine

much. I wasn’t there that long.”

      “Yes, you were,” Bee said. “You’ve been gone nearly three hours.”

      “I suppose so. He’s travelling. He’s funny. He’s very cool.”

      “Told you,” she said.

      “I liked him a lot.”

      “How did it go?”

      “How did what go?”

      “Did you talk about the thing, the picture? I thought that’s why you went.”

      I said we had, but not really. “I don’t know. Maybe I did drop it. I must have done.”

      “And you’re going to see him again.”

      I shrugged, like it wasn’t something I was in charge of. Even if I did want to hang out with Harper, there was Stroma to think about. I said that to Bee with my hands over Stroma’s ears while she wriggled to get free. I said it wasn’t so easy making plans with a kid in tow.

      Bee raised her eyebrows at me. She said I didn’t have to make life so complicated. She said she’d look after Stroma any time. She said, “Not everyone minds being around little kids.”