The Barbecue at No.9

She tried to remember the last time she had been to a barbecue, or even a party, outside of her own home. As she pondered, Rita began to feel a now familiar wave of heat start to progress through her body and she waved the invitation frantically across the front of her face, a face which – even though she couldn’t see it – she knew was turning puce. In her case it had always been a distraction from thinking about the very real issues she was struggling to face. Hanna took a bite of her burger and stared back into the party, searching for her mum, finally spotting her standing near the bench at the end of the garden.