Carol pulled up outside the coffee group willing herself to bite the bullet to go in again with Sophia, Lori was going to meet here there with Carl. She was hoping the nosy women would leave her alone this week but she didn't know if they would or not. They wouldn't be able to help it because of Daryl showing up with Rick to see her last time.

Daryl had asked if she wanted him to go, sometimes Dads went if they were not working sometimes there were solo Dads or working Mums. She told him she could do it by herself he didn't need to protect her, she was a big girl now she could go make friends with some of the Mums he could do his own thing around home or rest up and sleep some.

He had laughed the only reason he would go to bed during the day was not for sleeping. He had been up on the roof cleaning out gutters when she left with Sophia, she was always amazed when he did guy things like that. Not paid someone to come fix the problem unless he had tried to fix it himself. He looked like he had changed a guttering as one was lying on the ground and he was fixing a new on on. She reminded him not to let go, or fall, he waved, she knew he would be fine, Andrea was home to hear him if he fell.

She hoped out of his truck reaching into grab her bag freeing Sophia from her car seat heading towards the main doors. She didn't know if Lori was there yet or not but she was just going to head in check out what was going on with everyone and smile trying to make new friends.

Feeling like she had just walked into a conversation where she had been the topic of conversation, everyone stared at her when she come in, everyone stopped talking, a few mothers looked her up and down and the rest just turned back to their conversations. Carol looked around for Lori she wasn't there yet. She walked over to try join a group of women who really didn't want her to join.

She sat down with Sophia on her lap smiling trying to join in the conversation and for 5 minutes was excluded on purpose, her comments over looked she decided the mum's coffee group wasn't for her. She knew what the problem was most of it was because of Ed, and the rest was Daryl. They thought she was slutty bouncing from man to man, but they didn't get it, they didn't know Ed, or her. They certainly didn't know Daryl, or what she had been through, she wasn't going to tell them just so they would like her and make her a coffee.

One women had made coffees for everyone but her. Everyone. Her throat burnt it was sore from trying to keep it together for not letting her guard down and crying in front of all these women to give them something else to talk about. They were trying to exclude her and make her go, she didn't need this on top of trying to keep herself together. If she was going to lose it she didn't want it to be in front of these women.

She bent over to pick up her bag trying not to cry putting Sophia over her shoulder, stood up and walked out of the community hall. She run into Lori in the hallway who was coming in.

'Where you going?' she asked.

'Ummmmmm I've got a headache,' Carol lied to her friend and kept walking out to her truck.

She buckled Sophia in, she knew she wasn't going to be accepted by these mums not yet. She didn't know what to do, she couldn't go to Daryl's because he would wonder why she was there so soon after leaving and would want to go down there and defend her honor or something. So she buckled Sophia into her car seat deciding to go get a take away coffee and go for a walk through the park or something.

Carol was sitting on a swing drinking her coffee rocking her feet back and forward with Sophia strapped to her chest thinking she should go home to her flat or take Daryl's truck back when she saw him walking down the path towards her.

'Hi?' She said.

'You ok?'

'Just having a coffee, you,' Carol couldn't understand what he was doing here.

'Lori rang, I've got a tracker on the truck with my job,' he filled in the blanks without asking, 'Something happen?'

'No, kinda, not really, they didn't want me there,' Carol offered him, he nodded walking behind her too push her on the swing a little for something to do.

'They say something?'

'No they just made everyone a coffee but me and ignored me, so I left,' Carol told him,

'Want me to go with you?'

'No, I'm not going back, ' Carol put her feet down so she could stand up, she held her hand out, he looked worried she would be more upset, she was passed being upset, she was done, if they didn't' like her she was not going to worry about it. 'Wana walk?'

He nodded holding her hand walking around the paths looking at things talking, laughing about some of the things they were seeing. Finally walking full circle back to his truck. He climbed in to drive, he been dropped off by Andrea when he looked for the location of his truck.

'So swimming classes next try then for Soph?' He asked.

'You can do swimming classes, last thing I need to do is get into a swim suit with judgmental women.' Carol told him, he just laughed and nodded.