Rona and Brent chatted about a few other things for a while, just general catching up, and then Brent said:

"All right, I've got to go. I told Catherine I'd meet her in town."

Rona remained tight-lipped.

"Look" said Brent, "I know you think I could do better, but . . ." he shrugged. "I don't want to do 'better'."

"Hey -" Rona held her hands up defensively - "I didn't say anything."

"Okay mate." Brent stood up. "Well it was good to see you. Don't forget - editor!"

"Yeah, yeah." Rona waved him away. "Have fun shopping, or whatever it is Catherine has you doing today." She raised an eyebrow sardonically.

Brent smiled. "See you, Rona." He put a few coins on the table to cover his coffee, then dashed across the road to catch a tram.

Ten minutes later he was in the city, standing in the Bourke Street Mall and scouring the lunch-time crowd for his girlfriend's face. He spotted her standing outside Myer and crossed the tram tracks towards her. He gave her a hug and a kiss. "Hi, gorgeous" he said warmly.

She smiled at him; her long sandy-red hair was tied back in a tight ponytail and a light scarf was wrapped around her neck. She leaned forward and kissed him again quickly. "Having a good day?" she asked.

"Yeah, I've just been having coffee with Rona up in Fitzroy" he replied. Catherine frowned. Brent smiled placatingly at her and put his arm around her shoulder. "I know you don't like her" he said, "and you don't have to hang out with her if you don't want to. But she's my friend."

Catherine smiled again, though unconvincingly. "I know. Anyway let's not talk about it. What do you want to do?"

"Well I don't know" said Brent and grinned mischievously, his eyes locked on hers. "What do you want to do?"

Catherine looked around. "Well . . . There's a new designer outlet that's just opened 'round the corner. do you wanna go look at it?"

Brent thought for a moment about what Rona had said, his grin frozen on his face while Catherine waited for his reply. "Sure" he said at last. "Sounds good."