'I loved it.'

Ada blinked.

'Sorry?'

'I loved the book. I've reread it several times now. I bought another copy so I can mark it with annotations.'

Hecate's voice was low and urgent and she was looking at Ada intensely. She'd come round to ask for some kitty litter and had stayed for a cup of tea. Ada suddenly got the impression that Hecate didn't need anything at all. Was she lonely?

'You don't need to fabricate an excuse if you wanted to come round and discuss away from the group. I'd love to see what you've written if you're willing to share with me. I'm not yet over this book. I've reread it again.'

'What you said. About excitement being found in strange places. About making tea for each other. Simple pleasures. Passion that is so intense it simmers in layers of gold dust. Just seeing into each other's hearts and souls.'

'That sounds marvellous' Ada said, transfixed. 'Sometimes you really have a way with words, Hecate.'

Hecate sat back, discomfited by her reckless display of sentiment. She got up and looked busy. Ada wondered how to get her back. Talking about simmering energy…

'I was impressed that such a passion was expressed without the useful tool of sex. Which most likely means something different in that dystopian world.'

'Sex is useful?' Hecate turned around.

'Sex for pleasure is very useful. It bonds people for a while. It can be overrated at times and overused in fiction but propositioned as it should do, makes it very effective.'

'Propositioned?'

'Affection and intimacy is proposed in many ways. Attraction too. All of those things are reflected in the way that they talk of how they want to live together.'

Hecate admitted that she'd never thought of it that way.

'It sounds like a transaction but isn't that what people get out of it? If nothing else, good sex does wonders for a person. Even reading it creates some satisfaction.'

'Even if it is gratuitous?'

'Even so. If it works for some people.'

They were both thinking of Dimity's terrible choice of a thriller. Lots of nonsense on the sex front there.

'Depends on what you find gratuitous. I can handle some serious pornographic content more often if a woman writes it. Women tend to be better at writing sex. It feels more natural. Something out of an Indigo Morgana book perhaps. She writes some wonderful smut' said Ada. She wondered if Hecate had ever read the series. Her neighbour was trawling through her bookshelf with a meticulous flick of the eyeline. She stopped at the end and froze.

'Have you read them?'

Ada wasn't sure if Hecate picked books for the club based on her own personal preference. Might she select her choices based on popular appeal to make it easier for the others? The long pause between them lay heavy as Hecate considered her answer. Ada considered that Hecate did read smut and wouldn't admit to it.

'I've seen them around, yes.'

'I can recommend them. Evocative writing, believable characters and situations, it's always a delight to read a new story from her.'

Hecate settled with a 'very good' and turned away. Tried to think of something else to talk about. Ada sensed she felt uncomfortable and went to untangle her naughty Pendell who was at that moment, trying to chew the curtains.