Tamsin stretched her arms above her head. The sheet slipped down and she found herself staring at her own naked breasts. Tamsin had never been able to sleep fully in the nude—it just wasn’t her thing—yet here she lay, in the buff. She turned her head to look at the cause of her nudity in bed. Diane was still sleeping. She lay on her side facing away from Tamsin.

They’d spent two nights in a row together, so this definitely was no longer a one-night stand. Not that Tamsin had ever considered it that, but Diane might have. She might not have come back to Tamsin’s house last night. After she’d left to meet her son, Tamsin hadn’t been able to keep that thought from popping into her head. What was going through Diane’s mind as she’d left? As she spoke to her son? At least Tamsin had always been sure of one thing in her adult life: her attraction to women. She had no idea how it felt to come across this particular attraction in your fifties, after living a life of heterosexuality.

Tamsin tried to imagine falling for a man in approximately fifteen years, but the thought was simply too far-fetched—and the prospect too far in the future. This wasn’t something you imagined beforehand, she figured. It was something that happened to you.

Diane had been all over her last night, much bolder in her actions than the night before already, and her enthusiasm hadn’t left much room for doubt in Tamsin’s mind. She had admired Tamsin’s body, had called it youthful and delicious—ironically, two words Tamsin had often stamped on her own younger lovers. She was the younger lover now, but also the more experienced one. The whole thing was a wonderful new adventure altogether.

She looked at her alarm clock. It would start playing Radio Four in one minute. The weekend was over. They both had to get back into the real world, pick up their regular lives and engage in far more ordinary activities than the extremely pleasant ones they’d occupied themselves with over the weekend.

Tamsin rolled over, as though she wanted to protect Diane from the upcoming noise of radio presenters on a Monday morning. She slung an arm over Diane’s middle and pressed her body against Diane’s warm back. The simple pleasure of waking up beside another woman engulfed her and she inhaled Diane’s scent. Then the alarm started blaring and Diane stirred. She let out a little groan and pressed herself into Tamsin’s embrace.

“Good god,” she said, after a few seconds. “Will you please turn off that monstrous racket?”

“What are you on about? This is Radio Four. Isn’t that what golfing accountants in Tynebury listen to?”

“Not at this ungodly hour of the morning.” Diane croaked, bringing an inadvertent smile to Tamsin’s lips.

“It’s seven o’clock. I’d hardly call that ungodly. It’s light outside already.”

Diane grabbed hold of Tamsin’s arm and nestled herself deeper into her spooning hug. “It is when I’m in bed with you and all I want to do is stay here for as long as possible.”

“Well, here’s an idea.” Tamsin planted a quick kiss on the back of her head. “Come back tonight.”

“You’ve got great ideas for a Monday morning.” Diane kissed Tamsin on the lower arm, then started turning over in her arms. She swivelled her body around until she lay facing Tamsin. “Good morning, by the way.” Her sleepy face melted into a smile.

“Morning, gorgeous,” Tamsin said, and went in for a kiss, starting to wonder how they would ever get out of this bed.

“I wish it were May already, then we’d have a couple of bank holiday Mondays,” Diane said. “We timed this wrong.” She shook her head. “We should have had our first date on the eve of a long weekend.”

“Our first sex date, you mean.”

Diane chuckled. “We should take a week off, really.” She ran her hand over Tamsin’s belly. “Or a few. I want to take my time getting to know this heavenly body.”

“How about lunch,” Tamsin said. “I’ll be at the club all day.”

Diane’s hand stiffened against her stomach.

Tamsin could kick herself. Too much, too soon. She’d been too caught up in the moment. Too intoxicated by waking up next to Diane.

“Forget I said that.” She sent Diane a reassuring smile. “Let’s just meet up this evening.”

“I’d love to have lunch with you.” Diane’s body seemed to loosen a little. “But maybe not at the club. Not yet.”

“It’s fine, Diane.” Tamsin stroked her thumb over Diane’s shoulder. “Let’s just take it easy. The words were out of my mouth before I even realised.”

Diane rolled onto her back. “While my body seems to be adjusting at a very rapid speed, my brain may need a little time to catch up.”

“Hey.” Tamsin scooted closer and put her hand on Diane’s belly. “We have all the time in the world.” During the short silence that fell, the radio presenter announced that it was seven minutes past seven. “Except for maybe right now,” Tamsin said. She had a meeting with the club secretary at half past eight. When they’d set the meeting, that time hadn’t seemed odd to her at all because they’d both proclaimed themselves early birds—and Tamsin liked to keep the bulk of her day free of meetings so she had more time to teach. Now, she cursed the early arrangement.

“I need to get going as well. Tax season isn’t over yet.” Diane didn’t brush Tamsin’s hand away, nor did she make any movement to slide from underneath the covers.

“It’s going to be all right,” Tamsin said, because she felt she needed to say something.

“My brain will do just fine catching up.” Diane smiled up at her. “Meanwhile, I’ll just let my body take the lead.”

It felt different to arrive at the club after the weekend Tamsin had just had. She had a spring in her step and while she thought the secretary a bit dull—Dennis took his tasks so seriously, there didn’t seem to be any room for even the tiniest bit of banter—she didn’t mind sitting across from him, listening to him drone on about all things RTGB related.

By the time Tamsin had taught her second lesson of the day, and she was in the locker room taking off her golf shoes before going to the restaurant for lunch, it started to seriously dawn on her that she might be falling in love. Images of a smiling Diane kept popping up in her mind, alternating with images of Diane in ecstasy—that most private facial expression to share with another person—and images of Diane utterly relaxed in her embrace. Tamsin couldn’t wait for tonight, and the night after, and all the ones after that. Although, again, she seemed to be getting slightly ahead of herself.

She walked into the restaurant and ordered her usual salad from Linda behind the counter. She sat at her regular table overlooking the course in all its glory—a sight she’d never get bored of, especially in springtime when everything was bursting back into life. She compared it to how she felt—the flowers of love blossoming boldly in her heart.

Tamsin was pulled from her reverie by two women entering the restaurant. Isabelle and Barbara. In Portugal, she had learned they were both true ladies of leisure. Isabelle’s husband still, very old-fashioned in Tamsin’s opinion, brought home the bacon—it was how Isabelle had put it herself. Tamsin couldn’t help but wonder who brought home the proverbial bacon in Barbara’s household of one. Or did she have a secret sugar mummy? She chuckled at the thought.

Isabelle waved at her and walked over. “How lovely to see you,” she said, in a manner so enthusiastic Tamsin had no choice but to believe her. “Did you have a nice weekend?” She cocked her head.

“Lovely, and you?” Tamsin replied.

“Fine.” Isabelle narrowed her eyes. “What did you do that might’ve been so lovely?”

“Just this and that.” Tamsin thought about saying ‘working on some old furniture’ but if Diane had confided in her friend already, which Tamsin believed she might very well have done, what with the way Isabelle was scrutinising her, it might come across as a little disrespectful. “Taking Bramble for long walks and such.”

“I see.” Isabelle tapped a finger against her chin, as though she was about to figure out the final piece of a very complex puzzle.

“Sorry we can’t join you,” Barbara said. “We’re supposed to welcome one of the new members today. Have lunch with her, make her feel at home.”

“Thank goodness it’s not Debbie.” Isabelle rolled her eyes. “She seems to feel welcome enough already.”

This earned her a jab in the elbow from Barbara.

“Yes, yes, I know. But that woman stole my best friend’s husband and still has the nerve to prance about the place as though she actually belongs here and all the while Rob—”

“Yes, yes,” Barbara said, matter-of-factly. “If they apply again next year, we’ll make sure Rob gets accepted. No excuses. Times are changing around here.” She let her gaze linger on Tamsin for a beat.

“We’ll have to see about that.” Isabelle sighed.

Linda approached with Tamsin’s salad.

“Enjoy your lunch,” Isabelle said, locking eyes with Tamsin a little longer than Tamsin would normally expect. What was up with these ladies today? Was it the arrival of spring in the air? Or was it something about Tamsin’s face that gave away what she’d really been up to over the weekend?

After thanking Linda, Tamsin put a hand to her cheek, to feel for marks that might have been left after an unexpectedly hot weekend with one of this club’s members. All she felt were her lips drawn into a perpetual smile.

She got out her phone and sent Diane a message. She didn’t say anything about Isabelle’s quizzing or Barbara’s lingering look. Instead, she typed: How many hours until I see you again?

Tamsin scoffed at her own lameness. This wasn’t the sort of text you sent to a sophisticated woman like Diane Thompson. It was most definitely the sort of exchanges she and Ellen had engaged in, endlessly and, Tamsin had to admit, at times nauseatingly. Diane might be the one standing on the brink of her first same-sex relationship but Tamsin was very much there with her, ready to embark on her first truly adult one.