Susan stepped off the train and looked around. A small waving creature with short orange hair came running toward her, and she couldn't hold back her smile.

"You're finally here!" Reni hugged her heartily. "I thought you'd tossed me aside for good! Two years I've been inviting you, and you always promise and never come! I couldn't believe my ears when you called! And now here you are!"

"Hello, little one!" said Susan, looking her over. "Still dressed like a traffic light, I see!" Her gaze had come to rest on the electric-green shorts and pink top.

"And you're still the same old stick-in-the-mud! I'm dying of curiosity — why are you here? Something interesting happened, didn't it?"

Susan bent down to avoid her gaze and lifted her bag from the ground.

"I wanted to swim! I'm not wrecking your plans, am I? If there's a man on the horizon..."

"As many men as you like, Suzie! But the villa is just for the two of us! I honestly thought you were standing me up when you didn't turn up on Monday!"

"I'm sorry — Mom had some urgent paperwork to sort out and I stayed to help her! But here I am!"

"You could have at least called me! Come on, dear! Let's go!"

The two of them came out of the seaside town's station and stopped in front of Reni's compact 4x4.

"Out with it, Suzie!" her friend urged, green eyes shining with curiosity.

"What do you want me to say, Reni? I needed a real holiday and I thought of you! That's all!" Susan kept her eyes stubbornly on the streets sliding past the window.

"It was at your grandfather's, wasn't it?"

"Yes. The whole family was there, and this time they even quarreled less than usual! Grandpa was happy — that's what mattered most to me!"

"Fine, then! No more questions!" The small woman beside her pouted. Susan had ordered herself to forget Alan and everything that had happened between them!

Reni stopped in front of a high white wall, behind which rose a beautiful two-story villa. She pressed the remote, the gate slid open, and a minute later they were in the yard.

"Good heavens! What is all this? I knew your father was a businessman, but..." Susan trailed off, enchanted. In the last of the daylight, the crystal surface of a small round pool sparkled in the garden. Around it stood rows of sun loungers, and from the two nearest trees a pair of hammocks swung idly.

"Well — it'll do, as holiday homes go!" Reni shrugged modestly.

"If I'd known it was this good, I'd have come the very first time you invited me!" Susan exclaimed as they went inside.

The furnishings were ultra-modern, with a dash of eccentricity typical of the owner: leather sofas, concealed wardrobes, odd shelving, enormous beds. Susan was amazed.

"So you'll be happy here!" Reni concluded cheerfully. "Wait till you see the beach tomorrow. And I wasn't going to tell you, but a bunch of friends are coming for the weekend. We'll take you out on the town. Maybe this will be your lucky summer too, Suzie!"

"No!" Susan cried, almost in horror. "I really don't think so!"

"You never know, my dear! It's time you shook off the past. Tonight, we rest — you've had a long trip — but tomorrow, we celebrate!"

Susan breathed in the salt air hanging over the town. Reni had a point. To forget Alan, and to get over the sting of what Martin had done, she simply mustn't stop moving! The moment she stopped, her thoughts would drive her mad. She followed her friend — who never stopped moving for a second — to one of the bedrooms. Yes: what she needed was life at full throttle!

"For the next few weeks, I am entirely at your disposal, Reni!" she declared. Her little friend's face lit up.

"Fantastic! I promise you, it's going to be fun!"

With that, Susan got up to settle into her room and rest. She definitely needed something... different!

For the next two weeks, Susan gave having fun her best effort. The sea air, the beach, and Reni's countless friends, arriving and departing in waves, kept her fully occupied. In the evenings she came home tired and pleasantly dizzy from beer and snacks, and fell straight asleep; she woke around noon, and Reni's mad friends laid siege to her again at the pool or on the beach. Susan flirted, laughed, and genuinely enjoyed herself. Only the determined attentions of two of Reni's friends grated on her a little; Susan steered clear of anything intimate. What had happened with Alan had been lesson enough. Toward the end of the third week, the friends — including the most persistent of the suitors — left on some urgent business, much to Susan's relief. After greeting the sunrise for the second morning running at a lonely cove just up the coast, Susan and Reni found themselves alone. After the beach, the two of them sat down to breakfast at a café. Susan studied the menu with a rumbling stomach and ordered herself two large pancakes and a hot chocolate.

"Suzie, I do not understand you!" Reni declared from across the table. "What is wrong with Dani? He's about the most decent man I know!"

"I've nothing against him! He's perfectly nice!"

"'Nice'! And you haven't noticed at all that he's crazy about you!"

"Reni, I don't want complications!"

"What complications could possibly be chasing you, my dear? It's summer and we're at the seaside! Relax!" she exclaimed. Susan kept quiet while breakfast was served.

"I don't want to feel guilty if something happens!" she answered at last.

"But what could happen? Drop all these scruples and enjoy yourself!"

"That's exactly what my grandfather said last time!" She scowled.

"Well then — listen to him!"

"I don't want to 'enjoy myself' with the first man who comes along, Reni! I want a holiday!"

"God, you're incurable!" Her friend shook her head and sipped her coffee. "How are you ever going to find a man?!"

"I don't need one."

For a while Reni watched Susan demolish the enormous pancakes, then snorted.

"Keep eating like that and you'll ruin your figure!"

"It's the sea air! I've got the most incredible appetite!" Susan answered with her mouth full. Reni drew her thin eyebrows together.

"You've been eating for two lately! And still thin as a rail — how?" she muttered under her breath.

Susan's fork clattered suddenly against her plate. Her eyes went huge in her delicate face.

"Oh, no!" she groaned. With trembling fingers she pulled a little notebook from her bag and checked it.

"What is it?" Reni asked, alarmed. "Don't tell me you're late!"

Susan had turned pale.

"More than a week late!" she said, horrified. "I can't believe it!"

"Hold on, let's not panic! It's not usual for you, though, is it?"

"No! It's usually accurate as a clock!"

Reni leaned forward on the table, disbelieving.

"And you never said a word?! Who is he, Suzie?"

"This can't be happening to me — not now!" Susan went on dazedly, not hearing her at all. "I... I need a pharmacy!"

"Fine! But you will answer me later!"

Reni settled the bill quickly, and they made for the nearest pharmacy. Susan bought a pregnancy test as if in a daze. Back at the villa, Reni pointed out:

"You'll have to wait until tomorrow morning if you want it a hundred percent accurate! That's what the instructions say!"

With every passing minute Susan looked more desperate, more anxious. She sat slumped on the sofa.

"How am I supposed to wait? What if..."

Reni wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Suzie, it's not the end of the world! Even if you are pregnant, everything can be sorted out!"

"I thought I'd gotten away with it this time! With Martin there were times we weren't careful either — I'd forget a pill, and nothing... Oh my God! I have to do the test now!"

She took the box and closed herself in the bathroom. Reni sighed and went to make a fresh juice.

"Why all the drama, Suzie? Maybe you're just late! You know — change of climate, change of routine, the salt water?" her small friend called, coming back down the hallway.

"No — I'm never late!" came the answer through the bathroom door.

Reni shook her head and paced nervously. A minute later, a pale Susan appeared around the door.

"It's red!"

Reni frowned at her.

"Two lines?"

"Yes."

"I told you it might not be accurate yet! Wait until tomorrow!"

But Susan shook her head, her gaze far away.

"No. I'm leaving tomorrow, Reni! I need to think in peace — to be on my own for a while!"

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea!"

Susan turned to her and attempted a smile.

"Thank you for having me!"

"You can always count on me, Suzie! But honestly — still not a word! Who is the lucky man?"

"A very old friend from childhood in Medea."

"Old?" Reni exclaimed with a grimace of mock horror, trying to lighten the mood. Susan only sighed.

"He's not old at all — unfortunately!"