Sunday.
Thirty-five yesterday. Sixteen by this morning, rain coming in sideways before the first hymn even started.
Carol texted the night before — half asking, half warning. Still on for church tomorrow? Weather's turned mental, she said.
Told her nothing about Sydney surprises me anymore. Not quite true. Checked the forecast twice before bed anyway.
Carol and Penny were already inside by the time I got there, two seats saved same as always, shaking the rain off their coats when I slid in next to them. Penny still drives the whole way over from Kirribilli for this, wind or no wind.
Had the two bottles in my bag already — Probio PCC, the two I'd added on their own line when I placed my own order, separate from the ones for Mum and Dad. Passed them over once I'd sat down, quick, under the pew, before the first hymn started. Told them nothing more than one a day, see how it sits with you.
Carol took hers without much thought, turned it over once reading the label, said her stomach's been off since the cruise, might as well give it a go. Penny took longer over it — properly surprised, like she hadn't expected one for herself. Said thank you twice, the second time looking almost embarrassed by it, being Carol's friend more than mine.
Sat together through the whole service, three across, Penny on the aisle, same as last time. Didn't think about the bottles again till we were back on the footpath after, buttoning coats against a wind that hadn't been there an hour earlier.
Coffee after, the café two doors down, the one that never has enough tables on a Sunday. Got the last one by minutes.
Put my card down before either of them had their bags open properly. Told them it was my shout, no argument. Carol let it go easier than Penny did — Penny tried once, half a protest, gave up once I'd already handed the barista my card.
Penny brought the probiotics up over the flat whites, not Carol. Said she'd already looked the ingredients up on her phone during the sermon, apologised for it, laughed at herself doing that in church of all places. Asked was there anything else worth trying, for her knees this time.
Didn't have an answer ready. Told her I'd have a think, which was true — hadn't expected the question, wasn't chasing it either.
Carol just watched the two of us, amused, said something about how she'd never get through a whole bottle of anything at the rate her own cupboard's going.
Said our goodbyes out front after, coffees mostly gone, cardigans still zipped against a wind that felt more like July than the week we'd just had.
Thirty-five to sixteen in a day. Sydney, doing what Sydney does.
Didn't think, walking back alone, about much past the wind, and Penny's face over the coffee, and how easy the whole thing had felt — easier, if I'm honest, than I'd expected it to.