With her cable knit cardigans, she’s not in any danger from the kind of men that Barb knows.’

Rory started to laugh. She had only met Barb once, but she could just imagine the kind of men she went for. ‘Hasn’t she tried to fix you up, Mum?’

Sheila looked embarrassed. She picked up her insipid tea and sipped. ‘Actually, Barb has been on at me to double date with her, but I don’t think it’s for me. I didn’t really date the first time round – I met your dad at sixteen and we knew we were going to get married from the first week. It all seems a lot more complicated these days.’ She sipped again and then leaned forwards. ‘Barb even showed me a book she got from the library: Sex for Seniors. It had drawings of positions you could do “it” in and everything. I asked her if there was a picture of my favourite position: sitting in an armchair with a cup of tea and a biscuit.’

Rory chuckled. ‘Oh, Mum. You’re not past it yet, you know.’

‘Maybe not. But I won’t be around forever. Which is why I would like to see you settled down. Why can’t you give it a chance, Aurora?’

Rory wasn’t about to go down that path again. ‘Has the vacant flat been filled yet?’

‘No. Obviously, Barb is hoping for a single man, which makes Flo shake her head in disgust. With any luck, it’ll be another Barb and they can go out together and leave me alone.’

‘Well. Don’t rule anything out, Mum.’

‘Same to you, Aurora.’

But it wasn’t a love interest for herself, or for her mum, that was on Rory’s mind. Why hadn’t Belle told her about the boy she liked?

Chapter Five

Standing in front of a display of screws and nails, Rory was at a loss. Some of the skirting board was coming away in her bedroom and she just wanted to screw it back. Why were there so many different types?

If there was one thing she hated, it was asking for help in a shop like this. Not only was there rarely anyone around to ask but, when you did, they were usually male and had a way of making you feel like an idiot. She had had enough of being made to feel stupid this week. Nathan Finch had been introducing new initiatives at school on an almost daily basis.

At this evening’s staff training, he had instructed them that they would need to produce a seating plan for each of their classes. This was something they already did, but he wanted a lot more than a sketch of who sat where in the room. ‘For each student, you will also need to indicate the following things. Firstly, their gender and ethnic origin. Then whether they have a Special Educational Need, are “Gifted and Talented” or receive free school meals. Lastly, their current National Curriculum level and whether they are making above, below or expected progress. We would like this colour coded as indicated and, ideally, I would like you to complete these by the end of the week.’

Although this was going to take a great deal of time and effort (and would have no impact whatsoever on the teaching of the children in her classes) at least Rory knew how to do it.